Five-Minute 


Sermons in Storie 

v&t. 

for Young Folks 


HENRY T. SELL 







Class JBV.4315 


Book.._JziA 


Copyright N°. 




COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 


















FIVE-MINUTE 


Sermons in Stories 

For Young Folks 



BIBLE STUDY BY TEXT-BOOKS 

A New Method for Bible Classes 

By HENRY T. SELL 

Ten Interesting Studies 

1. Supplemental Bible Studies* 

2. Bible Studies by Books. 

3. Bible Studies by Periods. 

4. Bible Studies by Doctrines. 

5. Bible Studies in the Life of Christ. 

6. Bible Studies in the Life of Paul. 

7. Studies in the Life of the Christian. 

8. Studies in Early Church History, 
g. Bible Studies in Vital Questions. 

10. Studies in the Four Gospels. 





FIVE-MINUTE 


Sermons in Stories 

For Young Folks 


HENRY T.^SELL, D.D. 

Author of Sell's Ten Books of Bible Study 



New York Chicago 

Fleming H. Revell Company 

London and Edinburgh 



Copyright, 1923, by 
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 



©CLA696778 


New York: 158 Fifth Avenue 
Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave. 
London: 21 Paternoster Square 
Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street 

MAR 10 1923 


"K 6 | 


Foreword 


T HE way of the Master, in the New Tes¬ 
tament, in the setting forth of vital 
truths, and impressing them upon the 
minds of His hearers, was to tell stories, brief and 
to the point. Then He would drive home the les¬ 
sons in a few well-chosen words. 

The attempt is here made to follow this method 
—to tell short and interesting stories and then to 
make practical applications. 

These “ Five-Minute Story Sermons ” were first 
used, by the author, for the boys and girls of his 
own church Sunday school. 

They were delivered during, and were a part of, 
the regular Sunday morning church service of wor¬ 
ship—when the adult congregation was present. 

The time was at the close of the first congrega¬ 
tional hymn. The scholars remained until after 
the first chorus choir anthem, when they retired— 
the boys going out of a door at the left of the pul¬ 
pit and the girls out of a door at the right. Some 
remained, however, for the whole service. 

The sermons were constructed and intended to 
serve the double purpose of instructing and, at the 
same time, interesting the boys and girls of all 
ages, who were present and also the adults. They 

5 


6 


FOREWORD 


did not take the place of the regular longer sermons 
which followed in due course. 

This service has been kept up for about five 
years. 

There were sermons for special subjects and oc¬ 
casions— Christmas Day (41), Mothers’ Day 
(42), Children’s Day (52), Lincoln’s Day (49), 
Washington’s Day (50), Thanksgiving Day (30), 
Bible Day (46), Prayer (17), Missionary (45), 
Giving (48), and others. 

This book will be found useful by pastors, Sun¬ 
day-school superintendents and teachers (in class 
work), as a text-book* and for private reading. 

The author is deeply grateful for the success and 
favour with which his ten books of Bible Study 
Books have been received, as they are now in their 
second quarter of a million of sales. 

H. T. S. 


* In using this book, as a Class Text Book, it is sug¬ 
gested that each scholar, in the class, take the Scripture 
text and the theme of “A Talk” and work up a story to 
fit, as it is done in the book. It is simply a question of 
using one’s eyes and ears to find a story. A great interest, 
in the lesson taught, may be developed in this way. The 
reference should always be back to the Bible—The Great 
Text Book. 


Contents 


I. 

^Be Somebody .... 


9 

II. 

The Five-Hundred-Dollar Bill . 


11 

III. 

What Is Love ? 


*3 

IV. 

The Gold Door-Knocker 


15 

V. 

Looking Through Coloured Glasses . 


17 

VI. 

/✓Two Boys In One 


19 

VII. 

Push and Pull .... 


21 

VIII. 

t" Why Is a Boy Like a Tack ? . 


23 

IX. 

u-A Swarm of Bees and Honey . 


25 

X. 

The Sticker ..... 


28 

XI. 

The Stop-board Man . . 


3 1 

XII. 

The “ Please ” Family 


33 

XIII. 

/'"'The Way of the Wheels . 


35 

XIV. 

A Megaphone Story 


37 

XV. 

Popular and Unpopular Boys and Girls 


39 

XVI. 

>"The Steel Bar and the Bottle-Cork . 


4 1 

XVII. 

The Coward’s Prayer 


43 

XVIII. 

Two Drops of Oil .... 


45 

XIX. 

Being Good OIF Duty 


47 

XX. 

The Ants and the Apple-Tree . 


50 

XXI. 

Chained to a Bicycle 


52 

XXII. 

Seven Hundred Left-Handed Men . 


54 

XXIII. 

Wild Animals in the Heart 


57 

XXIV. 

Farmer Bascom .... 


59 

XXV. 

The Ten-Dollar Gold Piece . • 


61 

XXVI. 

The Silent Policeman 


64 

XXVII. 

Free Air ..... 


66 

XXVIII. 

Saying and Not Doing . 


68 

XXIX. 

The Turtle On a Log 


7 i 

XXX. 

Oceanus Hopkins and Peregrine White 


73 


7 







8 


CONTENTS 


XXXI. 

A Rusty Nail .... 

• 75 

XXXII. 

\J* Mr. Going-To ”... 

. 78 

XXXIII. 

Lena, The Polite . . • 

. 81 

XXXIV. 

The Boy Who Lost His Home 

. 84 

XXXV. 

The Counterfeit Dollar . . 

. 86 

XXXVI. 

Smile! Smile Again ! . . . 

. 89 

XXXVII. 

The Way of the Eagle . . . 

. 91 

XXXVIII. 

\ Three Kinds of Apples 

• 93 

XXXIX. 

David’s Sling .... 

. 96 

XL. 

The Hunter and the Bear 

. 98 

XLI. 

Christmas Day .... 

. 100 

XLII. 

P Mother’s Day .... 

. 103 

XLIII. 

Wings of Imagination . . . 

. 105 

XLIV. 

iJFive Things to Watch . 

. 108 

XLV. 

The Cotton Mill Boy . 

. 111 

XLVI. 

Puzzle Blocks .... 

. 114 

XLVII. 

West Point Words 

. 116 

XLVIII. 

New Money .... 

. 118 

XLIX. 

Lincoln—The Poor Boy 

. 120 

L. 

Washington—The Rich Boy . 

. 122 

LI. 

Roosevelt—The Sick Boy 

. 125 

LII. 

Jesus Christ—The Master Boy 

. 127 

LIII. 

Use Your Eyes .... 

. 130 

LIV. 

What a Watermelon Seed Can Do . 

• ! 33 

LV. 

The White Line .... 

• 1 35 

LVI. 

The Weighing Machine 

• 137 

LVII. 

A Boy’s Dreams .... 

. 140 

LVIII. 

The Voices of the Clocks 

• M 3 

LIX. 

Finger Prints .... 

. J45 

LX. 

Things That Matter . . . 

. 147 

LXI. 

Drawing the Line . . . 

. 150 

LXII. 

The Jewel Pedler . . . 

• M 3 

LXIII. 

The Merry Go Round . 

. 156 

LXIV. 

The Boy Prisoner . . . 

. .58 





I 


BE SOMEBODY 


“Strive to enter in .”— Luke 13 : 24 . 

N advertisement appeared not long ago on 



many of the bill-boards of a big city. 


People could not help seeing it. It stared 


them everywhere in the face. There were just 
two words at the top—all the rest was a blank 
white space. These two words were—“ Be Some¬ 
body ! ” The letters were black and eighteen 
inches high. Nothing appeared in the blank space 
for two weeks. Then the bill-posters came along 
and appended the advertisement of a correspond¬ 
ence school. That advertisement exploited this 
school and told what you might become if you only 
took its courses. 

Now that school might have fully carried out its 
promises, but it is not necessary to attend a corre¬ 
spondence school to “ Be Somebody/’ 

Every boy and girl has the possibility of being 
“A Big Somebody ” if he or she will only go to work 
right and keep at it. 

The Bible is ever urging everyone who reads it 
to “ Be Somebody ” worth while—to amount to 
something. 


9 


10 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


There are certain negative rules that govern the 
Bible game of “ Being Somebody/’ Unless you 
obey these rules there is no chance of getting any¬ 
where in the game: 

First—Don’t be a slacker. A slacker is one who 
never does things on time, or in order. 

Second—Don’t be a dodger. A dodger is one 
who is always seeking to get rid of responsibility. 
His cry is—“ Let someone else do it.” 

Third—Don’t be a pretender. A pretender is 
one who is always representing himself as having 
more, or being more, than he actually has, or is. 

There are certain positive rules which govern the 
game of “ Being Somebody.” 

First—Be in earnest in what you do or say. Let 
people see that you are in earnest. 

Second—Be truthful. It never pays to shade 
the truth. Someone is sure to find you out. 

Third—Have some definite good work which 
you are trying to do—not merely to earn a living, 
but to be helpful in the community, in your family, 
to everyone you meet. 

Just follow the Bible rules and the result is sure. 
You will “ Be Somebody ” worth while. “ Strive 
to enter in.” 


II 


THE FIVE-HUNDRED-DOLLAR BILL 

“ Take heed.” —2 Chronicles 19: 6. 

CERTAIN man had long cherished a five- 
hundred-dollar bill, which he kept in the 



bottom of his trunk. He thought often 
of this bill and the thought was a pleasant one. 
Here was something that would come strongly to 
his aid in time of need. 

The time finally came when, out of work, the 
need of money was strong. He got out his five- 
hundred-dollar bill and went down to the largest 
bank in his city to have it changed. He said to 
the paying teller, as he passed him his bill, “ Please 
give me $100 in one-dollar bills, $100 in two-dollar 
bills, $100 in five-dollar bills, $100 in ten-dollar 
bills, and $100 in twenty-dollar bills. ,, But the 
teller gave the man back his bill, saying as he did 
so, “ We can't change that bill here." The man 
went to several banks with the same result. Finally 
he asked, “ What is the matter ? ” The reply was, 
“ That bill was issued long ago by ‘ The Confeder¬ 
ate States of America.’ There is no such govern¬ 
ment now! ’’ 

The man could hardly believe that the five-hun- 


11 


12 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


dred-dollar bill which he had cherished so long was 
no good. It seems he had picked it up as it was 
blowing about a deserted street on a windy day, 
and not being over intelligent, had thought it genu¬ 
ine. 

That bill is like a bad habit which a boy or girl 
may pick up in the street or elsewhere and cherish 
in secret. It may seem to that boy or girl that that 
habit makes them look smart and knowing. They 
are different from the common humdrum boy or 
girl—they just know a lot of things which when 
the time comes will make them stand out from the 
rest and give them a great advantage. 

Jim Snedeker had the bad habit of deceiving 
people—he did not mind telling a lie—and thought 
that he always got away with it nicely. One day, 
when he was about nineteen years old, a very good 
opportunity opened to him. He applied for the 
place. The man knew him well; he said, “Awfully 
sorry, Jim, but that habit of yours, in thinking it 
smart to deceive people, is in your way—I can’t 
take you on.” No one was more astonished than 
Jim that his bad habit was known. “ Take heed! ” 



Ill 


WHAT IS LOVE? 

The Law of Love .— Matthew 22 : 36 - 40 . 

W HAT is love? How will you define it? 

Something vague ? Something that will 
be of use to you? 

I want to tell you a story of how a young woman 
and a rather gruff editor of a New York magazine 
defined love. 

This young woman was a very nice young 
woman. She was a poetess and had her own 
ideas about love. She had written a number 
of poems which she thought were very good. So 
good did she think them to be, that she wanted 
them published in a well-known New York maga¬ 
zine. She got a letter of introduction to the editor. 
One day she presented this letter, and after some 
delay, was admitted to the editorial office. 

The editor asked her what she wanted. She 
told him that she had some poems that she would 
like to have published in his magazine. 

“ What about ? ” said the editor. 

“ All about love,” she replied. 

“ Well! What is love?” said the editor. “ Tell 
me.” 

13 


14 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


“ Love,” replied the young woman, casting 
her eyes heavenward, “ is gazing upon a lily-pond 
at night, by the shimmering moonbeams, when the 
lilies are in full bloom, and-” 

“ Stop! Stop! Stop! ” cried the editor, curtly 
interrupting her. “ You are all wrong, very, very 
wrong. I will tell you what love is. [The editor 
is the father of a family of boys and girls.] It 
is getting up cheerfully, out of a warm bed on a 
cold winter morning, at two o’clock, to fill hot- 
water bottles for ailing children. That’s real love. 
I am sorry, but I do not think we can use your 
poems.” 

The editor was right. Real love is doing some¬ 
thing for somebody at some inconvenience to our¬ 
selves. 

Boys and girls are very apt to be very profuse in 
their expressions of love for their fathers and 
mothers—when they want some favour from them. 
I knew a man once who said he could always tell 
when his daughter wanted some money, outside of 
her allowance; it was when she was profuse in her 
expressions of love for him. Again, once more let 
us say it, real love is doing something for some¬ 
body, that needs to be done, at some inconvenience 
to ourselves. Read “ The Law of Love ” to God 
and man found in Matthew 22: 36-40. 



IV 


THE GOLD DOOR-KNOCKER 

“ Behold I stand at the door and knock ” 

—Revelation 3: 20. 

I N the olden times they did not have push-but¬ 
tons for electric bells at the side of front 
doors as we have them to-day. They had 
door-knockers fastened to the doors. If anyone 
wanted to call on the inmates of any house the 
knocker was used most vigorously. 

Iron and brass were usually used in the making 
of the knockers and many of them were highly 
ornamental. 

Boys and girls, I want to tell you of one of these 
knockers that was made of pure gold, and found 
not long ago on the front door of a big old-fash¬ 
ioned farmhouse in Canterbury, England. 

The gold discovery was made when the knocker 
became loosened and the farmer called upon a car¬ 
penter to fix it up. When it was taken off the door 
the back side of the knocker looked so much like 
gold that the carpenter called the farmer and told 
him that he thought that this was the metal. But 
the farmer laughed at him and told him he was not 
seeing straight and that the metal was brass. But 

15 


16 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


the carpenter insisted and the knocker was taken 
to the village jeweler, who, upon testing it, declared 
that the metal was gold. 

The puzzle was to find why a knocker made of 
gold had been put upon this door. Finally one of 
the old men of the village recalled that a long time 
ago this house had belonged to an English clergy¬ 
man who was counted as quite eccentric. He was 
given to what has been called “ Symbolism ”—that 
is, making outward things express inward truths; 
just as the Cross stands for Christ. Christ was 
crucified upon a wooden cross, but the cross now 
is frequently made of gold to show His value to us. 

It was thought that this clergyman, who was 
quite wealthy, had caused the gold knocker to be 
put upon his front door to signify that no one 
ought to knock here unless he came upon some 
good mission. So his “ Symbolism ” showed itself 
in his belief that only good thoughts and purposes 
should apply for admission to his heart and his 
house, for none others would be let in. 

What a wonderful thing it would be if we had 
each a symbolic “ Gold Door-knocker ” to our 
hearts to signify that as the knocker was of pure 
gold, so no thought or purpose that was not of its 
purity and value would be admitted. Then there 
would be no question but that Christ would be ad¬ 
mitted to every heart. 


V 


LOOKING THROUGH COLOURED 

GLASSES 

“ For now we see through a glass darkly hut then 
face to face .”—i Corinthians 13 : 12. 

T HE other afternoon I saw a company of 
children who were playing with and look¬ 
ing through bits of different coloured 
glass—red, blue, yellow, green and black. Accord¬ 
ing as they looked, they saw all things red, blue, 
yellow and black. 

A boy, looking through red glass, said, “ I see all 
things red.” The boy who sees red has a chip on 
his shoulder; he is ready to fight; he is always 
looking for someone to quarrel with. Beware of 
the boy who sees red. 

A girl, looking through blue glass, has “ The 
Blues.” Nothing appears just right to her. From 
having “ the Blues ” she gets “ the Dumps.” I 
had rather anyone had “ the Mumps ” than “ the 
Dumps.” “ The Blues ” is very contagious. Be¬ 
ware of the girl who sees all things blue. 

The yellow glass looker sees all things yellow. 
We know what sort of a newspaper “ a yellow 
journal ” is. It is given to exaggeration. It is 


18 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


sensational. A boy recently came into the house 
and said that there were a thousand rabbits going 
across the road. When taken to task he said: 
“ Well, at least there were five hundred.” Finally 
he admitted there were only two. People soon 
lose all faith in the yellow exaggerator. 

The green glass looker. We speak of “ The 
green-eyed monster, Jealousy.” He is certainly a 
“ monster,” for when a boy or girl gets jealous of 
another boy or girl because they are more advanced 
in school or have better clothes, they are certainly 
in for a mean handling by the “ Monster.” 

The black glass looker sees everything dark. 
No matter how bright the sunshine, how gloriously 
beautiful the flowers, everything is dead black. 
We sometimes speak of the black glass looker 
as “ Mr. Gloom.” 

Boys and girls, throw away these bits of col¬ 
oured glass. Do not even play with them. See 
everything in the pure white light as you look out 
of your eyes. Consider our text and see things as 
your Saviour, Jesus Christ, would have you see 
them. 


VI 


TWO BOYS IN ONE 

“For the good that I would I do not.” 

—Romans 7:19. 

D ID you ever hear the story of the two boys 
in one—using the same body, the same 
eyes, the same tongue, the same hands? 
“ Double personality ” some of the wise ones call it. 

The two boys took turns in using the same body. 
They were obliged to do so. They were so differ¬ 
ent in temperament that they could not get along 
together. 

One boy was mean—there was nothing so mean 
that he would not do. He was passionate and 
sulky. He would not work. He did not want to 
go to school. No one liked him. 

The other boy was kind and considerate. He 
was obliging to everyone. He was a good worker. 
He stood well up in his classes at school. Every¬ 
one liked this boy. 

These two boys in one were the sons of Mr. and 
Mrs. Henry Greene, who lived near Fayetteville, 
Ind. They were a decided puzzle to their parents. 
They never knew which boy to depend upon. The 
better boy would go to bed at night and everything 

19 


20 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


would be all right. The next morning, more than 
likely, when Mrs. Greene called him it would be the 
other boy, the mean and sulky one, who would be 
occupying the body. Then she zvould have a time. 
She would call him to get up, only to receive some 
mean answer. It was hard to get him up, and 
hard to get him off to school. When he got to 
school the teacher never could tell beforehand 
which boy she was going to have. On the way to 
school the better boy might come in and take pos¬ 
session, and again he might not. The better boy 
might be in possession all day at school, but the evil 
boy might gain the upper hand when the body got 
home. 

There was a constant fight going on for the pos¬ 
session of this boy body. The parents, the school 
teacher, the friends of Mr. and Mrs. Greene 
watched with great interest this fight. They tried 
to help all they could, but they realized how little 
they could do. They knew that, finally, one boy 
would win and that would be the man. 

This story is a sort of an allegory, but it is typi¬ 
cal of every boy and girl. 

Every boy and girl has these two natures. It is 
up to the boy and girl to see which wins out in the 
end. 


VII 


PUSH AND PULL 
" Pushy —Psalm 44:5. 


T HERE was once a boy who had lived all 
his life far from any city or town of any 
. size. His uncle sent him an invitation to 

visit him. Now this uncle lived in a big city. The 
boy went, and had a fine time. His cousins showed 
him all about everywhere. 

When the boy returned to his country home 
everyone was very anxious to know about his city 
trip. The boy, in describing what he saw and 
heard, was very enthusiastic. 

Asked if he saw any of the big men that were 
talked about in the newspapers, he replied that he 
did not see one of them, and added, “ The big men 
of the city are not the ones we read about in the 
newspapers; you do not see many of their names 
on the doors of the stores or offices. The names 
of the really big men of the city are ‘ Push and 
Pull/ I saw their names on the doors of all the 
stores and offices. They are the men who have 
made the city what it is! ” 

That boy was absolutely correct. The men who 


22 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


have made the city bad are those who push and pull 
for evil things. The men who have made the city 
good are the men who push and pull for the things 
that are right and just. 

The boys or girls who push and pull to make 
things go in their Sunday school are worth while. 
Nothing goes of itself, only as it is pulled or 
pushed. Pull and push for a better attendance. 
Pull and push for better lessons. Pull and push 
for more interest in Bible study. That’s the way 
to make things go and amount to something! 


VIII 


WHY IS A BOY LIKE A TACK? 

“A nail in a sure place” — Isaiah 22: 23. 

I PICKED up a small circular the other day 
that had for a heading, “ Why is a man like 
a tack? ” There were only a few brief lines 
in explanation, but I thought that is a good title 
for a Junior Sermon, only I will change the head¬ 
ing to “ Why is a boy like a tack? ” We might 
also ask “ Why is a girl like a tack? ” 

A boy is like a tack ? Because he can go in only 
so far as his head will let him go. Sometimes a 
boy feels that he is being kept back by his parents, 
his teachers, his companions. Not so; the boy is 
kept back because his head, his purpose, his thought 
will not let him go further. 

A bov is like a tack? Because often he cannot 
* 

go very far without being driven in. It is often a 
very disagreeable task to have to hammer at a boy 
to get him to take hold. 

Why is a boy like a tack? Because as the tack 
has a sharp point the boy often has a sharp tongue 
and prides himself upon it. I heard a boy tell a 
boy smaller than himself, “ Your head is filled with 
sawdust,” and then he laughed at his own joke, for 

2 3 


24 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


he thought that he had said a very sharp thing. 
He did not think how he had hurt the small boy. 

Why is a boy like a tack? Because as the tack 
does not go very far in, it can easily be pulled out. 
It is not hard to divert a boy from his purpose. 
He is too prone to go from one thing to another. 

It is worth while for boys and girls to strive to 
be bigger than tacks—to be nails (Read the text, 
Isaiah 22: 23) fastened in a sure place. Notice 
a long wire nail with barbs near the head end! 
Notice also that the end is not so very sharp! But 
when this nail is fastened in wood it is not easy to 
pull out. It goes in a good ways, for it is long. 
It sticks because of the barbs. The barbs are the 
purposes strong and tenacious. Be a nail, not a 
tack. 


IX 




A SWARM OF BEES AND HONEY 


“A swarm of bees and honey .”— Judges 14: 8. 


T HAT’S what our text says—“A swarm of 
bees and honey.” There would surely be 
no honey without bees, and not much 
honey without a swarm of bees. 

Every boy and girl ought to be bee keepers. Let 
us give you the names of some of the bees you 
ought to keep. 

Be straight. When a bee has loaded up with 
honey he goes straight home—hence we have the 
expression—“ Straight as a bee line.” When a 
boy is sent on an errand can he be depended upon 
to come straight home or does his mother wait and 
wait and wait for him? When he does come, at 
last, he is full of excuses which, in the telling, show 
he has gone crooked. But let the boy do what he 
has to do, straight, when he is a boy, and when he 
is a man you can depend upon him to go straight. 

Be busy. The bee is never idle. He is always 
doing something useful and worth while. A small 
boy went to visit an aunt in the country. He was 
sent out to the barn to gather some eggs. He was 
told just what to do when he got to the nests. He 

25 


26 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


came in after a while, saying that he had hunted 
for eggs and could not find any. He added, “ But, 
Auntie, there were lots of hens standing around 
doing nothing.” The thing that makes work hard, 
in this world, is that there are so many who ought 
to help but who just stand around and let the 
others work. All the bees in the hive are busy. 

Be on time. The bee goes and comes on time. 
He does not loiter. He does not zigzag. There 
are some boys and girls who have three hands—a 
right hand, a left hand and a little behind hand. If 
you must have three hands, make the third hand a 
“ Little Before Hand.” 

Be obedient. The bees obey the law of the hive. 
In a swarm of bees there is a queen bee. The bees 
could never get along and make any honey if they 
were not obedient. Without this obedience all 
would be in confusion. Nothing introduces so 
much confusion as disobedience in the family and 
the school. 

Be kind. Don’t quarrel. See how orderly and 
quietly bees work. That is the reason they accom¬ 
plish so much. 

Be truthful, be prayerful, be a follozver of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. These three things are for 
your admonition, boys and girls. Bees in a hive 
know nothing about these things, but every boy and 
girl, to really succeed in life, must be truthful, 
prayerful and a follower of Jesus Christ. Take 
Christ with you and He will protect you. A cer- 


A SWARM OF BEES AND HONEY 27 


tain small boy said whenever he went alone through 
a certain street, the big boys picked on him. But 
when he had his big man brother with him he was 
not molested. If you want evil to leave you alone 
take Jesus Christ with you wherever you go. 

What about the honey? That is a good reputa¬ 
tion, a good character and having a good name. 


THE STICKER 

“Let us hold fast” —Hebrews 10:23. 


STICKER is one who holds fast to what 



he is set to do. Boys and girls may be 


divided into two classes—The Stickers 
and the Non-Stickers. 

The Non-Stickers are those who, setting out to 
do a task by themselves or by someone else, do not 
see it through. They soon get tired and quit. A 
boy saw a sign one day out in front of a grocery 
store, “ Boy Wanted,” and he went in to see if he 
could get the job. The proprietor looked at the 
boy who looked good to him. He said, “ Son, 
where did you work last ? ” The boy told him. 
Then he said, “ How long did you work there ? ” 
“About two weeks,” replied the boy. Then the 
man said, “Where did you work before that?” 
The boy told him. “ How long did you work 
there ? ” The boy said about ten days. So it 
went on for half-a-dozen inquiries with the same 
answers of brief terms of service. Finally the 
man said, “ I want a boy, and want one at once, 
but I am afraid you won’t do.” “Why not?” 
said the boy. “ Because,” replied the man, “ you 
do not stick to anything very long.” 


THE STICKER 


29 


There are boys and girls who go to school; they 
start out well, come on time, get their lessons; but 
soon—too soon—they begin to slack off and get 
negligent. They may take another spurt but they 
do not stick. They wonder, at the end of the term, 
why their standing is so poor. The teachers know 
why. They do the same way in playing games— 
you cannot depend upon them. 

The Stickers. The boys and girls you can de¬ 
pend upon to carry things through that they under¬ 
take. They are a joy to their parents and teachers. 
A certain other storekeeper put out a sign, “ Boy 
Wanted.” It had not been out long when a cer¬ 
tain boy of “ The Sticker ” class saw it. He said 
to himself, “ Here is my chance.” With that he 
took up the sign and carried it into the store. 
When the merchant saw him with the sign, he said 
to the boy, “ Why did you bring in that sign ? ” 
“ Because,” said the boy, “ you do not need it any 
more. I am the boy you want.” “ But,” said the 
merchant, “ you do not know how much I am go¬ 
ing to pay you, or what I want you to do.” “ That 
makes no difference,” said the boy. “ I think you 
will pay me what is right and work is work, just 
about the same everywhere.” It is needless to say 
that the boy got the job, and so stuck to it that he 
was soon going ahead very fast. 

The sticker sticks to his lessons—never mind if 
they are hard. 'The sticker sticks to his work— 
never mind if it is difficult. The sticker does not 


30 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


watch the clock every minute of the day to see if it 
is time to go home; he is interested in what he is 
doing. Stick to the study of the Bible, for it is 
full of examples of boys and girls, and men and 
women, who have made good by sticking to hard 
and difficult tasks. Stick to the precepts of Jesus 
Christ who can and will help you to stick to things 
more than anyone else. 


XI 


THE STOP-BOARD MAN 

“ The prudent man looketh well to his going.” 

—Proverbs 14:15. 

ET us take our topic from the railway 
signals, which are in use to keep people 
from harming themselves. 

The Stop-Board Man is the man who stands at 
a railway crossing with a small, round, white board 
on which there is a single word in big black letters 
—“ Stop! " He does not say anything but simply 
holds up this board to let anyone and everyone 
know that a train is approaching and that it is 
dangerous to cross the tracks. He does not wish 
to interfere with anyone's liberty or freedom. He 
simply tells you by his actions that if you attempt 
to cross the tracks while he is holding up that 
board that the probability is that you will get hurt. 
Parents and teachers hold up stop-boards. They 
say by this action—“ Don't," “ Don't do this," 
“ Don't do that," “ Don’t come here," and “ Don't 
go there." As the “ Stop-Board Man ” is aware 
of the danger in the approaching train before 
others, and holds up his Stop-Board so do parents 
and teachers see approaching dangers and say 
“ Don’t,” not to repress, but to keep from harm. 

31 




32 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


The Black and White Striped Bars which are 
let down, parallel to the railway tracks and across 
the road, so that street-cars and automobiles and 
wagons may see that the crossing is blocked to let 
a train pass. These represent the rules of your 
school, your home and the laws you will meet out 
in life. You want to play, when you ought to 
work. You want to sit up, when you ought to go 
to bed. You want to do anything else but study 
w T hen you ought to study. But if you do not mind 
the “ Bars,” you will sure be in trouble. 

The Round, Red Signal swings and rings, and 
keeps swinging and keeps ringing over the railway 
track at a crossing when danger is approaching in 
the form of a fast-running railway train. It says 
“ Ding, Ding, Ding ”—“ Keep away, keep away, 
keep away,” “ Look out, look out.” That’s your 
conscience, that is continually warning you of ap¬ 
proaching danger. You disobey it at your peril. 
Not that your conscience wants to keep you back 
from doing legitimate things; its only object is to 
keep you from harm. A short while ago I was 
asked to go and see a boy about sixteen years of 
age. I went. He was in a big stone building. 
He was in a prison-cell. He was quite badly off. 
He had stolen from the store where he was em¬ 
ployed and had lied about it. I talked with him. 
He said that his conscience had warned him but he 
had paid no heed to it 


XII 


THE “ PLEASE ” FAMILY 


“Let everyone of us please his neighbour ” 


—Romans 15:2. 



OU have all heard of the Smith Family, 


the Jones Family, the Small Family. Take 


tip any big city directory and page after 
page will be devoted to the names of these families. 
But did you ever hear of the Please Family? 

Last summer I was sitting one day in the large 
lobby of a big hotel and a bell-boy came along 
calling out the name of a man who was wanted at 
the desk to receive a message. He said, “ Mr. 
Henry Smith, please.” Then pretty soon another 
bell-boy came along and he said, “ Mr. Thomas 
Tilden, please,” and so bell-boys came and went 
calling for “ Mrs. Samuel Jones, please,” “ Mrs. 
Mark Turner, please ” and so on all the time I 
was there. My! I said to myself, “ The Please 
Family seems to occupy this whole hotel.” Then 
I heard my own name called with “ please ” added. 
Then I knew that the bell-boys had received in¬ 
structions to be polite, and I thought how it would 
smooth out things if everyone should say “ please ” 
for what they wanted, and become a member of 
the Great Please Family. 


33 


34 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


A little while ago a certain man had occasion to 
stop off at a good-sized. Western city. He wanted 
to go to a suburb called Oakdale. He asked a 
policeman what street-car line to take. The police¬ 
man said, “ You go up to that next corner and 
wait there until you see a car marked ‘ Oakdale ’■— 
you take that car.” After about half an hour the 
man came back and said to the policeman, “ I have 
been waiting half an hour on that corner and 
have not seen a car marked 4 Oakdale/ ” “ That’s 

strange,” said the policeman. “ Where did you 
look?” “ On the side of the cars and every car 
had a big sign and that sign had but one word 
and that word was * Courtesy/ ” The policeman 
laughed and said, “ You looked in the wrong place 
—go back and look at the glass over the door in 
front and you will see ‘ Oakdale/ The ‘ Courtesy 9 
sign you saw is an attempt on the part of the street¬ 
car company to promote courtesy.” That was a 
splendid idea on the part of the street-car com¬ 
pany. It would be a good thing to inaugurate such 
a campaign in every city. 


XIII 


THE WAY OF THE WHEELS 

“Behold, the four wheels —Ezekiel 10:9. 

L ET us make this text right up-to-date. 
Ezekiel got the lesson he wanted to im¬ 
press upon his hearers from four wheels 
he saw in a vision, and it was a very interesting- 
lesson. 

Now I want to get our lesson from the wheels 
we see every day—the four wheels of an auto¬ 
mobile—no particular automobile, but any and 
every automobile. 

There are always two front, and two rear 
wheels. But what a vast difference there is in 
them. The difference is not in their shape or 
appearance, or construction, but in the way they go. 

Watch the front wheels and you will see that 
they go round as they are pushed by the rear 
wheels. They have no connection with the driv¬ 
ing power. 

Watch the rear wheels, and note how they are 
connected up with the driving power. They are 
the pushers. 

There is then this difference between the front 
and rear wheels of an automobile—the difference 
between the pushed and the pushers. 

35 


36 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


Watch boys and girls and note this difference. 
There are those who have to be pushed. They 
never do anything of themselves. At home they 
are pushed to get up in the morning—they have to 
be called again and again. They have to be 
pushed to get them off to school. At school they 
have to be pushed to get their lessons. When they 
get out in life they have no what is called “ Initia¬ 
tive.” They have to be told what to do and then 
someone has to see that they do it. 

There are the pushers. They do things of them¬ 
selves. They get up and they get their lessons. 
When they get out in life everybody who employs 
anyone wants them in their employment for they 
do not have to be looked after. They are con¬ 
nected up with a strong driving power. They 
make things go wherever they are. They are 
worth while. 

The wheels of an automobile have no choice as 
to whether they will be “ the pushed ” or “ push¬ 
ers,” but every boy and girl does have the choice. 


XIV 


A MEGAPHONE STORY 


“ Prepare ye the way of the Lord .”— Luke 3 : 4 . 


T HE pastor of a prominent Chicago church 
recently told this story before a large 
meeting of ministers. He was speaking 
of how to get things done and the best way to get 
them done. 

He said: “When I was in college we had an 
eating club in the home of a Mr. Pinch. We 
called ourselves ‘ The Pinch Bugs.’ We wanted 
to increase the membership of our club. We dis¬ 
cussed many plans. We finally decided upon ad¬ 
vertising in our college paper—‘ The College Cal¬ 
endar.’ We had represented on a half page a 
huge megaphone. Around the little end there were 
a great number of little bugs with a written in¬ 
scription over them — 4 The Boosting Pinch Bugs.’ 
About the big end of the horn there were many 
lines representing a volume of loud sounds coming 
out. Underneath all were these words—* He that 
tooteth not his own horn who will toot it for 
him?’ The advertisement attracted the attention 
of the students, and many came into the club.” 
Boys and girls, you are naturally anxious to 

37 


38 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


increase the membership of your Sunday-school 
classes. You may have good teachers. You may 
have the very best of scholars in your classes. But 
you lack numbers and the enthusiasm that numbers 
often bring. How to get numbers—that is the 
question. Now the plan adopted by the “ Pinch 
Bugs ” may not work out as it did with them, for 
you may not be able to get an advertisement in 
the church paper. But this is the point I want to 
make; if you toot the horn of the class, talk about 
it to other boys and girls and be enthusiastic about 
it—urge others to come and tell them what a good 
teacher you have, and what good times are yours, 
it will not be long before the results in increased 
attendance will show. The trouble with your 
Sunday-school work is that you do not toot its 
horn loud and long enough. It is the best school 
in the world and worthy of all the enthusiasm you 
can put into it. Will you help toot your Sunday- 
school horn? If enough toot it, many will hear of 
it and come. 


XV 


POPULAR AND UNPOPULAR 
BOYS AND GIRLS 


“Study to show thyself approved” 

—2 Timothy 2:15. 

B OYS and girls like to be popular. They do 
not want to be unpopular. 

This story concerns a popular boy and 
girl—Jimmy Dean and Grace Long and an un¬ 
popular boy and girl—Bud Smith and Alice Downs. 

Everyone liked Jimmy Dean. He always had a 
smile on his face. He stood ready to help every¬ 
one in every way he could. He was not grouchy, 
or sulky, and people liked to have him around. 
When the boys did not exactly know what to do, 
Jimmy was sure to be ready with a plan. He was 
a good fellow in a good way. 

Grace Long was equally popular amongst her 
girl friends. No party was quite complete with¬ 
out Grace. When she was sick the girls took up a 
collection for her at school and sent her some 
flowers. When she recovered a little, and was able 
to see people, all the girls came to see her. Why 
was she popular? She always tried to be kind. 
She was always cheerful. She never said mean or 

39 


40 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


unkind things either openly or behind her friends’ 
backs. You could depend upon Grace to do the 
right thing. 

Bud Smith was very unpopular. No one liked 
him. If it were possible he was always left out of 
any game that was being played, for he did not 
like to play unless he had a leading part and if he 
had a leading part he made it disagreeable for 
everyone else. If there happened to be a smaller 
boy than himself anywhere near, he was sure to 
pick on him and make life miserable for him. 
When he went out with other boys and there was 
any money to be spent, he let the other boys pay. 
When he was at a party he took the biggest piece 
of cake and hastened to eat up his ice-cream so 
that he might have a second plate before the rest. 
He thought only of himself, and no one liked him. 

Alice Downs was just like Bud. If she did not 
have just what she wanted at home, she grew 
sulky. She said and did mean things to the girls 
with whom she was brought into contact. When 
she was in a game if the other girls did not let her 
do just as she liked, she would go off mad. No 
wonder that she was unpopular. 

It rests with every boy and girl to be what they 
desire to be—popular or unpopular. Read the 
whole of the text—“ Study to show thyself ap¬ 
proved unto God.” “ Unto God.” Do not forget 
the last two words; for anyone who strives to 
please God will be quite sure to please others. 


XVI 


THE STEEL BAR AND BOTTLE-CORK 

“ We glory in tribulation! > —Romans 5 : 3. 

I N a certain gun factory in New England this 
experiment was once tried: A huge steel bar, 
weighing eight hundred pounds and measur¬ 
ing eight feet in length, was suspended by a small 
steel chain from a girder. Near by was suspended 
a common bottle-cork by a silk thread. Both the 
bar and the cork were brought to complete rest. 
The experiment was to see whether the bottle- 
cork, set in motion and constantly striking the huge 
steel bar, could set it in motion. A number of 
experts said that the bottle-cork could have no 
effect but the one man, who suggested the experi¬ 
ment, declared that the bottle-cork would set the 
steel bar swinging at a lively pace. 

The bottle-cork was set swinging and hitting the 
steel bar. At the end of ten minutes there was 
not the slightest indication that the cork was hav¬ 
ing any effect on the bar. A few more minutes 
passed and a slight shiver, like a nervous chill, 
seemed to pass over the bar. At the end of half an 
hour the huge steel bar was swinging like the 
pendulum of a clock. 


41 


42 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


Our difficulties, trials and tribulations often 
seem to us just like that huge steel bar and the 
faith that we are asked to exercise like a little 
bottle-cork. What are we and what can we do 
to set them going and to influence them in the least ? 
Take our text: “We glory in tribulation.” It is 
the expression of a man who set his faith against 
the huge Roman Empire to make it move for the 
Christ that he believed in and he made it move. 
He gloried in tribulation because he knew that he 
could conquer tribulation. Jesus Christ said: “ Be 
of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Now 
we do not mind any task, any work, so long as we 
feel equal to it. 

Boys and girls get discouraged because they feel 
they can’t do a thing. But set a stout will against 
a stiff hill and the thing is done. The Bible seeks 
to take discouragement out of you. “If you think 
you are beaten —you are. If you would like to 
win but think you can’t—it’s almost sure you 
won’t. If you think you will lose—it is almost 
certain you will. You have got to think strong, 
and will strong, and have a strong faith, to rise.” 


XVII 


THE COWARD’S PRAYER 
“Pray.” —i Thessalonians 5:17. 


W HAT good is prayer? How does prayer 
help? 

These questions are answered in this 

story. 

In the World War there was a young man who 
was drafted from a small Western town. Every¬ 
one knew he was an arrant physical coward. He 
knew it himself. He could not seem to conquer 
it. Everyone said that if he ever got into battle 
he would run away. 

When he got over to France he was sent to the 
front with his company. His captain, who was 
from the same town and knew him well, said, 
“John, we are sure to go into action in a few 
days. I know you are a coward, and you know 
you are a coward. You will only disgrace yourself 
and your company by running away when we go 
into action, so I have arranged for your transfer 
to another regiment assigned to duty behind the 
lines.” So John was transferred to the other regi¬ 
ment. It was only a few days afterwards that this 
regiment was ordered to the front, contrary to 
expectation. 


43 


44 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


It was but a short time before John’s new regi¬ 
ment went into action. It had only been in action 
a few minutes before John threw down his gun 
and ran as fast as he could for the rear. He was 
overtaken and sentenced to be shot. While they 
waited for the firing-squad, one of the singular 
things, amongst many, happened—an enemy shell 
came along and wiped out the firing-squad. 

John in his heart did not feel like wanting to 
run again. He just stood there dazed. He knew 
he was a coward and he knew he had tried to get 
his cowardly heart out of him and had not suc¬ 
ceeded. Then he remembered “ back home,” when 
he had been obliged to go to Sunday school and to 
church. His mind went back to what the minister 
had said about prayer and its effectiveness to help 
one in sore need. He then and there kneeled down 
and asked God to take away his cowardly heart 
and give him a brave heart in its place. The 
miracle of prayer was wrought. John rose up a 
brave man. He ran for the front as fast as he 

•j 

could. He there found his company and did brave 
service. 

“ Pray without ceasing ” for what you cannot 
do but what God through Jesus Christ can do. 
We all need God’s help in taking away our old 
heart and giving us, in return, a heart full of cour¬ 
age to dare anything. 


XVIII 


TWO DROPS OF OIL 
“ Give us of your oil ” —Matthew 25:8. 

Y OU cannot go anywhere along the main 
travelled roads without seeing advertise¬ 
ments about oil. It is this kind of oil and 
that kind of oil which you must use if you want 
your automobile to run well. The very life of an 
automobile consists in its being well oiled. 

A short while ago, a young lady was driving a 
car for her invalid father. They were away out 
on the Western plains about twenty miles from a 
garage. This trip was being taken for the benefit 
of the invalid father’s health. Suddenly the car 
stopped. Nothing the young lady could do from 
her seat did any good in making the car go. She 
was fairly expert in fixing an automobile and knew 
quite well where to look for trouble. She looked 
in every place she thought there might be trouble— 
but found none. She stood beside the car thinking 
what next could be done when a big car came 
along, stopped, and a man, getting out, asked if he 
could be of any help ? She told of her perplexity. 
The man looked and looked but he could find noth¬ 
ing the matter. Finally he gave up the thing as a 

45 


46 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


bad job and drove on. Several automobilists tried 
to help but could do nothing. Finally a man came 
along, in a little flivver, and he tried to find the 
trouble. Just as he was about to leave he said, “ I 
am going to try just once more.” With that he 
got out a small oil-can and dropped two drops of 
oil in a certain place. “ Now,” he said to the 
young lady, “ just see what she will do.” The car 
responded at once. All that was wanted was two 
drops of oil. 

Often a boy gets stalled. He is bitter and sullen. 
He will not do anything anyone wants him to do. 
What to do? What to do? He is the puzzle of 
his teachers and parents. Everything is tried to 
get him started on the way again. But to all in¬ 
tents and purposes he is stalled. 

What does that boy need ? He has a good brain 
and a good heart, but he just won’t go. 

Now if you can just get into his machinery in 
some way two drops of the oil of “ Please ” and 
the oil of “ Thank you,” everything will run as 
smooth as smooth can be. No grouch, no sullen¬ 
ness can stay long when these oils are present. A 
boy cannot say “ Please ” and “ Thank You ” and 
not run smoothly at home and at school. If any¬ 
one wants anything of anyone else, the word 
“ Please ” helps mightily to get it. If a favour is 
done for us we can at least say—“ Thank You! ” 


XIX 


BEING GOOD OFF DUTY 

“ I do always those things which please him!* 

—John 8: 29. 

I N this text Jesus is speaking of His relations 
to His Father. You will notice the little word 
—“ Always ”—whether on duty or off duty, 
whether alone or in company, Jesus says He has 
in mind to do the things which please His Father. 
This is a very good thing for us all to do, always, 
and not occasionally. 

When a boy is on his good behaviour he is very 
good, for when he sets his mind to anything he is 
quite sure to accomplish it. When a girl tries to 
be on her good behaviour, she thinks she is a little 
better at it than a boy—and frequently she is. 

But when the boy and girl are off their good 
behaviour because they want to be off, or there is 
nothing to be gained by it—then look out, for all 
sorts of things may happen. 

But why be off good behaviour ? What is to be 
gained? Frequently much is lost. That which is 
lost, by a bad streak coming to light, cannot be 
regained. 


47 


48 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


Here is a case of a young man who was engaged 
to a young woman whom he loved very much. It 
might have been your brother or sister. He looked 
forward to his marriage with great anticipation. 
So did the young woman to her marriage. She 
lived in another place from where he did. He 
wanted her to get acquainted with his people, who 
lived on a large farm. An invitation was duly 
sent and accepted. In a short time she came to 
make the promised visit. All went well. She was 
delighted with his folks as they were with her. 
One day toward the close of her stay, and every¬ 
thing had been so delightful, one of the little sisters 
of her intended husband said to her, “ I wish you 
would stay here all the time and not go away at 
all.” The young woman was naturally pleased 
and said, “ Why do you wish me to stay ? ” “ Be¬ 

cause,” was the reply, “ brother John is so good to 
us little girls since you came; before that he was 
just horrid.” That afternoon the young woman 
was in the big barn when the little girls came in. 
They did not see her. She was about to make 
herself known when John came in and she hid 
herself. Then she heard John say in a harsh, dis¬ 
agreeable voice—such as she had never heard be¬ 
fore: “You girls clear out of here and be quick 
about it or I’ll thrash you—now get out.” The 
young woman made no reference to this affair but 
when she got home she wrote John a letter break¬ 
ing off her engagement and sent him back her en- 


BEING GOOD OFF DUTY 


49 


gagement ring. John had not been good when off 
duty. It pays to be good when we think that no 
one sees us or knows what we are doing. Be good 
off or on duty. 


XX 


THE ANTS AND THE APPLE-TREE 

“ By their fruits ye shall know them” 

—Matthew 7: 20. 

T HE other morning I went out into the yard 
of the manse and I happened to glance 
down at the foot of the trunk of an ap¬ 
ple-tree near the house. I noticed a little pile of 
fresh sawdust. I said to myself, “ That’s very 
strange. I wonder how that got there ? ” Looking 
more closely I saw some good-sized black ants 
going in and out of a very small hole in the trunk 
of the tree about two feet from the ground. The 
wood appeared to be sound all around this tiny 
hole. Going back into the house I got an ice-pick 
and thrust it into the hole and found a little way 
in that the wood was quite rotted away. I had 
noticed before the very poor quality of apples that 
the tree was bearing. 

“ Ah,” I said to myself, “ I now know the reason 
why that apple-tree bears such poor apples—it is 
all rotten inside. The black ants have eaten all the 
good out of it.” Otherwise the tree seemed all 
right—the leaves were green and a good many of 
them. 

50 


THE ANTS AND THE APPLE TREE 51 


You know the lesson that the apple-tree teaches. 
Black and evil thoughts burrow into our hearts. 
Going in and out they take the substance out of us 
as the black ants took the substance out of the 
apple-tree in the heap of sawdust. 

“ By their fruits ye shall know them. ,, No one 
can bear good fruit who is not good inside. We 
may be able to get by and make a good appearance 
for a while, but by and by what we think in our 
hearts will appear in the open. Beware of black 
and evil thoughts. 


XXI 


CHAINED TO A BICYCLE 


“Being bound in chains” —Jeremiah 40:1. 

HERE passed through our city a short 
time ago a young man chained to his 



bicycle. The chain was about two feet 
long. He was pedalling from California to New 
York City. He started in May and he must reach 
New York in November. It’s an advertising 
scheme by a movie man. The chained man, in his 
long trip, must not remove the chain. He must 
ride, walk, eat, sleep, always chained to his wheel. 
He has undertaken no easy task—never to be free 
for one single moment. 

I wonder how any one of you boys and girls 
would like to have such an experience and to al¬ 
ways have a bicycle chained to you wherever you 
went ? It might be a novelty for a short time, but 
the novelty would soon wear off and you would 
beg to be released. 

But there are boys and girls who are chained to 
bad habits—which are about as bad as being 
chained to a bicycle. They carry these bad habits 
everywhere they go. They do not seem to mind 
them but they are very disagreeable to other peo- 


CHAINED TO A BICYCLE 


63 


pie. The worst thing about it is that they do not 
seem to want to be released. The man chained to 
the bicycle looked forward very eagerly to getting 
to New York where he would have the chain re¬ 
moved. 

Jim Jones could not understand why none of the 
boys ever seemed to want him in any game they 
were playing. He was never asked as the other 
boys were. If he came around when a game was 
in progress it was almost impossible for him to 
get into it. Why? Because he always and in¬ 
variably cheated, whenever he got a chance. He 
would not play fair. He was chained to the bad 
habit of cheating at play. 

Helen May could not understand why she was 
left out of parties so often—neither could her 
mother. It hurt Helen very much because she was 
sociable and liked company. Why ? Because 
Helen never went anywhere but what she made 
mean remarks about the other girls. She would 
make mean remarks about her best friends. No 
one wanted Helen around because she was chained 
to the bad habit of making unprovoked and un¬ 
called-for, mean remarks. 

How about it? Are you chained to any bad 
habits which you carry everywhere with you, and 
which make you unwelcome ? Better look and see. 
Better get rid of bad habits which make you un¬ 
welcome. 


XXII 


SEVEN HUNDRED LEFT-HANDED MEN 

“Among all his people there were seven hundred 
chosen men, left-handed; everyone coidd sling stones 
at an hairbreadth and not miss.” —Judges 20: 16. 

S OME boys and girls have an idea that all the 
people in the Bible had to do, when they 
wanted anything, was to say a prayer and 
God at once answered by a miracle. That was the 
easy way of getting things. Carrying out this idea 
boys and girls pray for what they want, and if they 
do not receive it at once they say: “ Prayer is no 
good.” 

Now just look at our text and see what it says. 
Here were seven hundred left-handed men—handi¬ 
capped by being left-handed. Did they say, “ Be¬ 
cause we are left-handed we cannot go into the 
army to do valiant service for our king ” ?—not so. 
They evidently said, “ We will make our left-hand¬ 
edness serve us and make us more efficient.” So 
they practised and practised and practised until 
everyone—notice the “ everyone ” of the text— 
could sling stones at a hairbreadth and not miss. 
That was a great feat—to sling stones at a hair¬ 
breadth and not miss. Even with the most efficient 

54 


SEVEN HUNDRED LEFT-HANDED MEN 55 


rifles made to-day, marksmen frequently miss at 
target practise. How many boys could take a sling 
and being right-handed could hit a hairbreadth 
line? 

This text teaches us that the Old Testament peo¬ 
ple believed not only in asking God for what they 
wanted but that they did all they could themselves 
to answer their own prayers. They believed that 
the men, even with handicaps, could do very good 
service. 

These seven hundred men did not get their skill 
without much practise. They practised when they 
felt like it—they practised when they did not feel 
like it—they practised in season, and out of season, 
until they could do easily that which, before they 
practised, seemed impossible. Why did this boy 
fail in his lessons? Because he did not study— 
practise. Why did this girl break down when she 
attempted to play a difficult piece on the piano be¬ 
fore her mother's company? Because she did not 
practise. Why did this boy pitch so well in that 
ball game ?—he was not at all good to begin with. 
Because he everlastingly kept practising. Practise 
makes perfect. Natural skill amounts to but little 
without incessant practise. 

These seven hundred men banded themselves to¬ 
gether. They were in sympathy with each other 
and helped each other in every way. There were 
contests at first and friendly rivalry until “ every¬ 
one could sling stones at a hairbreadth and not 


56 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


miss.” If we really want to perfect ourselves in 
good things we must band ourselves together with 
those who are trying, as we are trying, to make 
the best use of what we have and what we are. 

In union there is strength and power. A com¬ 
pany of people working and praying together can 
produce results which no one person can hope to 
accomplish alone. Our church and Sunday school 
need the assistance and help of every one of its 
members in its continual and never ending warfare 
for better things. 


XXIII 


WILD ANIMALS IN THE HEART 


“Keep thy heart with all diligence —Proverbs 4 : 23. 


A WHILE ago I visited a big “ Zoo ” in a 
large city. It was a very interesting place. 
There were many wild animals kept 

there. 

There were tigers which, with one blow of a 
paw, could kill a man. 

There were lions, big fine-looking brutes, which 
would make nothing of crunching the bones of a 
man. 

There were wolves, savage-looking fellows, 
which looked at me with fierce eyes that seemed to 
say, “ Just let me get a chance at you and it would 
be all over with you in about five seconds.” 

There were huge bears—big, hulking, clumsy 
beasts. 

There were many other interesting animals. 
They all seemed to be very quiet and orderly. 
Some were walking about, while others were 
stretched out, fast asleep. 

But no matter how harmless and innocent they 
appeared to be, I noticed that all these animals 
were in cages, the fronts of which were guarded 
by thick, heavy, iron bars. 

57 


58 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


Not one of these beasts could be trusted outside 
the cage lest its savage nature assert itself. Once 
let out, no one could say what harm it might do. 

The iron bars were under constant inspection 
lest they become loosened. 

Boys and girls, in your hearts is a “ Zoo,” where 
wild animals are kept. They seem very harmless 
so long as you keep them confined, but once let 
out, and no one is telling what damage will result. 
They need to be kept behind the bars and those 
bars constantly inspected. 

Here are the names of some of the wild animals 
in your heart: the “ Tiger Temper.” Here is a 
boy who looks and acts in an angelic way when 
everything goes right. But stir him up the wrong 
way—rouse his temper and see how the “ Tiger 
Temper ” rages. Now unless the iron bars of 
self-control are good and strong the “ Tiger ” will 
get out and there is no telling what harm may 
come. 

Here is the “ Lion Vanity ”—the love of self¬ 
adornment—the supreme desire to be praised that 
a girl has in her heart. That “ Lion ” once out 
will kill every good quality in her. 

Here is the “ Wolf of Meanness.” Confined and 
kept back it can do no harm but once out it tears to 
pieces the best characters. 

Well! We know the names of a score of other 
wild animals of the heart—which if kept confined 
seem harmless. 


XXIV 


FARMER BASCOM 

“Do good to them that hate you ” — Matthew 5 : 44 . 

I READ the following story the other day. It 
is a story worth while: 

There was a farmer named Brown that 
lived a few miles from a small town. He was 
known as cross, surly, and unaccommodating. He 
never did a kind thing or said a kind word to any¬ 
body. If any of the neighbours’ hens trespassed 
on his land, he shot them. The boys always gave 
his front gate a wide berth. If by chance they 
came near, and the farmer saw them, he was quite 
sure to throw something at them. As his aim was 
very good, the boys were likely to get hit. 

Next to Farmer Brown there came to live, on 
the neighbouring farm, Farmer Bascom. Now 
Farmer Bascom was warned that he would have 
trouble with Farmer Brown. In reply Farmer 
Bascom said, “ If he bothers me I will kill him.” 
Of course this remark was repeated and it made 
Farmer Brown very angry. 

About a month passed before the farmers saw 
each other close by. Then Farmer Bascom’s oxen 
got bogged and Farmer Brown passing was asked 

59 



60 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


if he could help him out. The reply was a cursing. 
“ All right/' said Farmer Bascom to himself, “ I’ll 
kill you before long.” 

Some time afterwards Farmer Brown's oxen got 
bogged. Farmer Bascom coming by called out that 
he was going to help him out. He was most em¬ 
phatically told, in vigorous language, that no help 
was wanted from him. But night was coming on 
and it was raining. Farmer Bascom said that he 
was going to help anyway, and he did. By his 
help Farmer Brown was soon out of the bog. He 
did not say anything or offer any thanks, but when 
he got home and had eaten his supper he said to 
his wife, “ Wife, Farmer Bascom has killed me 
just as he said he would.” 

Needless to say that the most pleasant relations 
existed between these two men afterwards. 

Now for our text—“ Be good to them that hate 
you.” Kill your enemies as Farmer Bascom killed 
Farmer Brown. 


XXV 


THE TEN-DOLLAR GOLD PIECE 


“To him that overcometh.” —Revelation 2: 7, 17. 


A NUMBER of years ago, at a Sunday 
morning service of the church of which 
I was pastor, there occurred this incident: 
The ushers had just taken up the collection and 
were coming up the main aisle of the church with 
the plates heaped quite high with the offering en¬ 
velopes. 

As I looked at these envelopes I noticed upon 
one plate—topping the envelopes—a bright new 
ten-dollar gold piece. 

Such an offering was not common. After the 
service I asked the usher, upon whose plate the 
offering was, who gave that ten-dollar gold piece ? 
I thought I would like to know the person who 
gave it and personally give thanks. “ Why,” said 
the usher, “ that was Mr. Fred Jones (we will call 
him), he always gives a ten-dollar gold piece when 
he comes to church besides paying his regular sub¬ 
scription.” “ How often does he come to 
church ? ” I asked. “ Whenever he is in the city. 
He is a travelling salesman,” was the answer. 

The next day I went to see Mr. Fred Jones and 

61 


62 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


had a very pleasant talk with him. I said, “ It is 
very generous of you to give ten dollars whenever 
you come to church and a regular subscription be¬ 
sides.” He said he did not think so, because he 
had been the recipient of so many of God’s favours. 

I asked him what he sold out on the road. He 
replied, “ I am salesman for artificial limbs. I 
have an artificial leg; now, when I get up and walk, 
you just tell me which one it is.” I guessed first 
the right, then the left. Finally I settled on the 
right. He rolled up his left trouser leg and showed 
me I was wrong. After a little he rolled up his 
right trouser leg and then I saw that he had two 
artificial limbs. 

I said, “ I do not see how you can be so happy 
and thankful with two artificial limbs.” Then he 
told me his story of the accident by which both of 
his legs were crushed and of the bitter struggle he 
had with himself to conquer his resentment of the 
accident and his downheartedness. He said that he 
did not see any light at all on how he was going 
to earn a living for himself or family. Finally, in 
answer to prayer, came the thought, “ Why not 
sell artificial limbs ? ” Now he said, “ I really 
make four times as much as I did before my acci¬ 
dent, and I do a lot of good to those who lose 
limbs by showing them how well I can walk,” and 
he could walk well. “ Do you wonder that I put 
ten-dollar gold pieces on the plate besides giving a 
regular subscription ? ” he continued. 


THE TEN-DOLLAR GOLD PIECE 


63 


“To him that overcometh.” This man over¬ 
came a great misfortune and made it, through 
God's help, better his condition. God does not in¬ 
tend that we shall go down under a trial or diffi¬ 
culty but that that difficulty shall help us to better 
things. 


XXVI 


THE SILENT POLICEMAN 

“ The word of the Lord is right ” —Psalm 33:4. 

T HE Silent Policeman stands in the center, 
where two streets cross, but no whistle is 
blown and no direction is given by wav¬ 
ing of arms and pointing of hands. This police¬ 
man is always on duty every day and every night. 

The Silent Policeman is a short, heavy, iron 
post mounted on a pedestal of cement. At the top 
of the post there are painted signs and on these 
painted signs are the words: “ Keep to the Right.” 

Everyone who goes by may see these words. 
To heed them is to go on in safety. To disregard 
them is to meet trouble and disaster. A red light, 
at night, shows where the policeman stands and 
says, “ Look out.” “ Don't come here.” “ Pass 
on to your right.” 

What do the words, “ Keep to the right ” mean 
for us? 

Keep to right thoughts. A boy was passing 
along the street. His face was white, but his looks 
were black. He was muttering to himself. His 
hands were clenched. It needed no mind-reader to 
say what was going on in that boy's mind. He 

6 4 


THE SILENT POLICEMAN 


65 


had turned to the left in black thoughts and he 
was headed for trouble. He needed to turn to 
right thoughts before he ran into something. 

Keep to right words. Another boy was going 
along the road with black looks on his face which 
were soon expressed in black words. That boy 
had turned to the left and landed in the mud of 
the ditch. Did you ever see an automobile that had 
turned wrong and landed in the ditch? Didn’t it 
take a lot of trouble to get it out? The boy who 
uses bad language is certainly a pitiable object. 

Keep to right deeds. It is necessary not only to 
think right, and to speak right, but also to do right 
deeds. The boys and girls that people think are 
worth while, and who are worth while, are those 
who are trying to do something to help someone 
else. Really to boost someone else is to boost one¬ 
self. 

Heed the Silent Policeman—“ The word of the 
Lord is right.” Mind this “ Word ” and you will 
go on in safety and joy to yourself and others. 


XXVII 


FREE AIR 


“ Renew a right spirit within me.” —Psalm 51 • 10. 
S you ride along the streets in an automo¬ 



bile you see quite frequently the sign 


“ Free Air.” If you need air for your 


tires all you have to do is to drive up to the curb 
and get it. 

The automobile, to ride easily, must always have 
a certain amount of air in the inner tubes. Too 
little air and the car goes badly; all out, and there 
is a “ bump, bump, bump,” which is not pleasant. 

In one way and another the air gets out and 
must be renewed. “ Must be renewed,” we repeat 
it. Hence the frequency of the “ Free Air ” sta¬ 
tions. 

In order to get along in this world and enjoy the 
getting along—ride easily, we must ride on tubes 
of air and we must see that the air in these tubes 
is constantly renewed. 

There is but one sort of air for each of the four 
tubes of the automobile, but in order to get on in 
actual every-day life with other people and with 
our own family we must have four different kinds 
of air: 1—The Air of Kindness, 2—The Air of 


66 


FREE AIR 


67 


Love, 3 —The Air of Helpfulness, 4—The Air of 
Hopefulness. We must see to it that the air-pres¬ 
sure does not go down. 

There are two classes of people in this world: 
1—The Disagreeable, and 2 —The Agreeable. 
Now when you see a disagreeable boy or girl, or 
man or woman, note this—they are lacking in 
kindness, love, helpfulness or hopefulness. When 
you see an agreeable boy or girl, man or woman— 
note this—they are well supplied with kindness, 
love, helpfulness and hopefulness. The air pres¬ 
sure is just right. 

Now for the “ Free Air ” stations for you and 
for me: we have them in our churches and Sunday 
schools; we have them in stated times of prayer, 
and we have them in our Bibles. 

Look at our text—“ Renew a right spirit within 
me.” Not outside of me but in me. To be effec¬ 
tive the air must be inside the tube. 

If you find yourself lacking in kindness, love, 
helpfulness or hopefulness go to a “ Free Air ” 
Bible station and get it renewed. 


XXVIII 


SAYING AND NOT DOING 


w They say and do not ” —Matthew 23: 3. 


A TEACHER in one of our schools one 
morning about ten days before Christmas 
said to her scholars, “ Boys and girls, I 
have had my attention called to a very sad case of 
a widow with five small children. She has been 
going out to work, but three of the children have 
been sick and she has been obliged to stay at home 
and take care of them. She is in great need. I 
went up last night to their home and did all I could 
for them. I am trying to get others to help. I 
wondered if you would not like to do something? 
When you go home this afternoon I want you to 
tell your parents what I have told you. Kindly 
say to your parents that your teacher asks you to 
bring ten cents each, for this widow and her chil¬ 
dren, to-morrow morning. It is a purely voluntary 
gift. All I want you to do is to ask your parents, 
that’s all. If you get the ten cents bring it to¬ 
morrow morning. Now how many will promise 
to tell their parents? You need not promise if you 
don’t want to.” 

In response to the teacher’s appeal every hand 

68 


SAYING AND NOT DOING 


69 


went up. Then the teacher said, “ Be sure and 
ask. If you do not want to do it, lower your 
hands.” But every hand stayed up. 

The next morning the teacher said, “ I do not 
want to know now how many brought the ten cents 
I asked for, but I do want to know how many asked 
their parents for the ten cents. Be honest—hold 
up your hands, those of you who asked your par¬ 
ents.” But only fifteen hands went up out of 
twenty-five. Ten boys and girls had not done 
what they faithfully promised to do. 

Again: A boy once asked another boy to come 
over to his house after school. “ Sure,” said the 
boy asked, “ be glad to.” But he did not go. A 
girl asked the same thing of another girl with the 
same answer with the same result. There are too 
many boys and girls who will promise to do any¬ 
thing and everything you ask them, but they never 
intend to keep their promises. “ They say and do 
not,” and then they wonder; they just wonder why 
it is that they never seem to get anywhere in the 
best things. They forget that they are labelled as 
“ sayers ” and not as “ doers.” 

There was once a man who wanted to borrow 
some money—he had quite a little property but no 
ready cash—but no one would lend to him because 
it was a well-known fact that he would try to get 
out of anything he promised. There was another 
man who had but little property, but when he 
wanted to borrow any money everyone was will- 


70 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


ing to lend to him, because he always kept his 
promises. 

Boys and girls, be “ doers ” and not “ sayers ” 
alone. Do not promise anything that you do not 
intend to perform. When you say you will do a 
thing, let it be as good as done —so far as you are 
concerned. 


XXIX 


THE TURTLE ON A LOG 

“Holding ... a good conscience.” 

—i Timothy i : 19. 

O NE of the big preachers of Boston, one 
Sunday morning some years ago, told this 
story to his boys and girls: 

“ When I was a small boy I lived on a farm. In 
the summer-time I wandered all over that farm. 
There was a pond at the back side of the farm 
where I loved to go. I spent a lot of my time on 
the shore. There were many things that inter¬ 
ested me—the fish, the frogs and even the mud and 
the stones. 

“ One day, in going along the shore I came to 
where there was a big log lying partly in the water 
and partly out. Before I got quite up to the log I 
noticed a small mud-turtle lying on the part of the 
log that was out of the water. Its head was away 
from me and it seemed to be asleep. 

“ I thought what a fine thing it would be to 
smash that mud-turtle. I picked up a stick and 
crept along very carefully. The turtle did not 
move. I raised the stick and took careful aim. I 
was just about to strike when I seemed to hear a 

71 


72 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


voice which said very distinctly, 4 Stop! Don’t hit 
that turtle. He is not hurting you. Let him 
alone/ 

“ I looked all around but saw no one. I was 
very much frightened and ran home just as fast as 
I could to my mother. I told her of what I had 
tried to do and of the voice. I said, ‘ Mother, who 
said that ? What was it ? I looked all around and 
could not see anyone/ My mother looked at me 
very gravely as she took me in her arms and said, 
‘ My son, that was the voice of your conscience that 
spoke to you/ Then she told me how when I 
started to do a wrong thing that that voice, maybe 
not so loud, would speak to me; that it was the 
way God had of warning us of wrong doing. ‘ Al¬ 
ways/ she said, ‘ heed that voice/ ” 

It is the voice of conscience that speaks in us 
all. “ Holding ... a good conscience/’ is to 
heed it when it speaks. 


XXX 


OCEANUS HOPKINS AND PEREGRINE 

WHITE 

“ I was free horny —Acts 22: 28. 

O CEANUS HOPKINS and Peregrine 
White are not fictitious, but real names 
of a real boy and girl. 

You have all heard the story of the little ship 
Mayflower which came over to this country so 
long ago bringing “ The Pilgrim Band ” from over 
the seas. We recall the exploits of this little com¬ 
pany at our annual Thanksgiving time. We can 
never repay to them what they did for our Church 
and country. What we have to-day of religious 
and political freedom and good is, in a large meas¬ 
ure, due to them. 

Oceanus Hopkins got his first name because he 
was born on the Mayflower in mid-ocean. He got 
his second name because that was the name of his 
father and mother. He was the only child born on 
that voyage of sixty-three days. There were one 
hundred and two passengers when the ship started 
on her voyage. There was one man died on the 
passage and with the birth of Oceanus the number 
was the same when the ship landed. 

73 



74 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


Peregrine White. What of her? She was the 
first child born after the Mayflower landed her 
passengers on the bleak shores of Massachusetts 
Bay. Mr. and Mrs. White were very proud of 
Peregrine. She was a very fine baby. 

When Oceanus and Peregrine grew to be of 
school age and went to school they were doubtless 
very glad to tell over and over again of how one 
was the only child born on the Mayflower and the 
other the first child of “ The Pilgrim Band ” born 
after the ship landed. 

Ever since this time the Hopkins and the White 
families, descended from Oceanus and Peregrine, 
have been exulting in their glory. 

Paul (see our text, Acts 22: 28) was very proud 
of his birthright. He says, “ I was free born.” It 
is a good thing to be well born, and to be proud of 
the fact. It is a great joy. But, boys and girls, it 
is very much better to do the things that are good, 
and true, and right, and to be known yourselves as 
worth-while boys and girls than to depend upon the 
goodness of your ancestors. Be something worth 
while yourselves. 


XXXI 


A RUSTY NAIL 


" For which of you, intending to huild a tower , sit- 
teth not down first, and counteth the cost.” — Luke 
14:28. 


T HIS is a text that has much sound sense in 
it—counting the cost first, not after¬ 
wards. Beware of a pleasure or a sin 
that pays its board in advance. 

Boys and girls, when you are in doubt about 
doing a thing, whether it is just the thing for you 
to do or not—and you come to a good many such 
things—sit down first and count the cost, or you 
may have to pay a bitter price in the end. Think, 
think hard, first, over a doubtful thing and you will 
be saved paying the bitter price in the end. 

Everything that is done costs something— 
money, time, effort. You can do nothing without 
cost. 

The question is not the cost of things, but 
whether they are worth the cost ? 

There are things that are reckoned by the dam¬ 
age they do. 

Let me tell you the story of a rusty nail. I have 
such a nail. It is about an inch long and has a flat 

75 


76 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


head. It cost me exactly eighty-five cents for the 
damage it did. How? It was this way: I went, 
one afternoon, into the garage where I keep my 
car. I was in a great hurry to make a call on a sick 
man. When I got to my car I found that the 
right-hand front tire was flat. I was about to get 
out my air pump to pump up the tire when a garage 
man passed. I said to him, “ Now what do you 
suppose made that tire go flat ? ” He looked 
closely and pulled out a rusty nail that had gone 
clear through the outer casing and the inner tube. 
“ There,” he said, “ is your trouble.” Then I had 
to stop, have the tire taken off and the inner tube 
patched. Besides the cost in delaying me the ac¬ 
tual cost of repairing the damage was eighty-five 
cents. When that nail was originally made, it was 
fashioned at a cost, but the cost and the purpose of 
making it were that it might be of use. There are 
boys and girls, whom their parents have brought 
up and sent to school, gladly bearing the cost, that 
they might be of some use, but they are known for 
the mischief and damage they do. Do not be a 
rusty nail. 

There are things that are reckoned by the good 
they do. There are boys and girls, men and 
women, who more than repay any and every cost 
that is lavished upon them. The merchant does 
not care how much a thing costs so long as he can 
make a profit on it. Your parents, boys and girls, 
are more than willing to spend money, time and 


A RUSTY NAIL 


77 


effort for you and on you, provided that they can 
see an honest desire to improve your time and tal¬ 
ents. Be worth while, and more than repay the 
money, time and effort spent on you. 

When a man dies the question is always asked— 
“ What was he worth ? ” Some men die and leave 
a fortune in money but a poor reputation. They 
thought only of themselves and sometimes what 
they got in money was obtained with harm to other 
people. They were rusty nails. Other men die 
worth little in money but rich in reputation for 
honesty and fair dealing. They blessed every one 
with whom they came in contact. Consider now, 
boys and girls, what you want to leave behind you. 


/ 


t 


XXXII 


“MR. GOING-TO” 

“ Let us go.” —Isaiah 2: 3. 

T \HE prophet Isaiah, in this text, is urging 
the people to do right things in the right 
way. He said, “ Let us go ” and do 
these things. It is the only course to pursue. 

Directly opposite to what Isaiah urged is the at¬ 
titude of people who are always “ going to ” but 
who never get there. 

Mr. Going-To has a large family. There is 
ivirs. Going-To, Jimmy Going-To, Henry Going- 
To, Sam Going-To, Len Going-To, Alice Going-To, 
Jenny Going-To and Peggy Going-To. 

They live in the City of Don’t Care on To-mor¬ 
row Street. They will most cheerfully promise 
you anything and everything. They will say, 
“ Why, just as well as not,” “ Certainly,” “ Only 
too glad to.” And then they are off and think 
they have done their whole duty by you and what 
they promised. 

Jimmy and Alice Going-To went to school, but 
they never got there on time. They were always 
going to get their lessons but they never did. 

78 


“MB. GOING-TO” 


79 


Sam Going-To was in the seventh grade at 
school. He was a puzzle to his teacher. He was 
always cheerful, always into mischief, always go¬ 
ing to get his lessons, but always forgetting all 
about it. 

He was sent up to the principal of the school 
time after time. Finally the principal said to him, 
“ Sam, sit down, take this pencil and paper and 
make a record of the times you have been sent up 
here.” In five minutes the boy had it done. “ No, 
no,” the principal said, “ that won’t do.” Then he 
opened a drawer, took out a book, turned to the 
boy’s name and a long list of delinquencies. 
“ There,” he said to the boy, “ is your record; copy 
that, and after each bad act put down the reason 
why you did it.” The boy did as the principal 
told him to do. It took quite a while. When he 
had finished, the principal looked over his paper. 
“ That doesn’t look very good,” said the principal. 
Sam admitted that it did not. “ Now,” said the 
principal, “ that paper is quite mussy. You had 
better make out a fair copy.” So the boy did so. 
When this was done the principal said, “ Well, 
what do you think of it ? ” The boy hung his head 
and said that he did not think his record was quite 
so bad. “ Now,” said the principal, “ I will tell 
you what I will do. I will put this record in the 
safe and put you on your good behaviour for six 
months. If at the end of that time you are not 
sent up to me again I will tear up this paper. Do 


80 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


you agree ? ” The boy said he did. And so Sam 
got out of the family of “ Going-To.” 

The only way to be anything, boys and girls, is 
to do what we say we will do, and at the time we 
say we will do it. Remember the text—“ Let 
us go.” 


XXXIII 


LENA, THE POLITE 

“ Show kindness, I pray thee ” —Genesis 40:14. 

L ENA was known by the nickname of 
“ Lena, the Polite.” She lived in a 
crowded section on the north side of Chi¬ 
cago. She was twelve years old. She got her 
nickname because she was always so kind to people 
and always trying to do everything she could to 
help everybody. The other girls poked fun at her 
and teased her about her politeness and kindness. 
She was often asked why she put herself out so 
often and went out of her way to make other peo¬ 
ple happy. Her invariable reply was that she liked 
to do it. 

One day she was coming from school with a 
number of girl companions when there came along 
the street a shabbily-dressed man inquiring of peo¬ 
ple where a certain other man lived. When he 
came up to the group of girls he said, “Can you tell 
me where Isaac Burnstein lives? ” One or two of 
the girls laughed and said nothing; others said, 
“ No,” very short and snappily. But Lena said, 
“ I do not know, but I will see if I cannot find out. 

Wait here just a minute.” She went into two or 

81 


82 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


three near-by stores and came back saying, “ I am 
very sorry, but they do not know, in the stores, 
where he lives. Now,” she said, “ just a min¬ 
ute more. I will go and see the janitor of that 
apartment house over there. I think he must know 
where he lives.” Lena came back in a few minutes 
unsuccessful. “ But,” she said, “ let me try once 
more. I am sure he must live somewhere around 
here.” The shabbily-dressed man looked at her 
and said, “ You need not try again—there is no 
such man that I know anything about; what I am 
really looking for is the politest person I can find 
in Chicago to-day, and when I have found that 
person, young or old, I am to give out fifty dollars. 
Here is your fifty dollars,” and he gave “ Lena, the 
Polite ” a clean, new fifty-dollar bill. 

The incident occurred at a time when one of the 
big daily newspapers sent out every day for several 
weeks a poorly dressed reporter to ask all sorts of 
questions, sometimes very foolish ones, of all sorts 
of people, to test their politeness. One fifty-dollar 
bill was given every day to the politest person the 
reporter met. While this campaign lasted it had a 
remarkable effect upon the manners of people, for 
who could know but that, for a polite answer, fifty 
dollars might be theirs. 

But Lena did not know she was going to get 
such a reward for her politeness. She was as she 
was because in her heart she wanted to be kind. 
That is really the only true sort of kindness. 


LENA, THE POLITE 83 

Boys and girls, consider our text—“ Show a 
kindness, I pray thee,” each one, because kindness 
dwells in your hearts. 

Politeness never misses its aim. It may not seem 
to be appreciated. It may seem to fall short. It 
may seem to be resented. But this is all in “ The 
Seem So.” Politeness is the sunshine of life— 
without its genial rays there can be no fruits and 
flowers of love, patience and all the virtues. 


XXXIV 


THE BOY WHO LOST HIS HOME 


(( 


ff 


Honour thy father and thy mother’ 

—Exodus 20:12. 


^HE other day my telephone bell rang, and 
upon taking down the receiver, I heard a 
voice saying, “ This is a deputy sheriff 
of the county speaking. The sheriff would like to 
have you come over here this afternoon.” I said, 
“ What does he want to see me for; what have I 
done? ” But the deputy said, “ You kindly come 
over this afternoon/’ So, soon after I got my 
lunch, I went over to the county jail, thinking all 
sorts of thoughts as to why the sheriff wanted to 
see me. 

When I asked the sheriff what the trouble was, 
he said, “ There is no trouble for you, but there is 
a young man locked up up-stairs who wants to see 
you.” “What has he done?” I asked. “Only 
stolen two automobiles and committed some other 
offenses,” he replied. 

Well, I went up to see this young man and had 
the door—a big iron door—locked behind me. He 
was a fine-looking young man of about twenty 
years of age. To make a long story short, he 
wanted to see a minister, to ask him if he thought, 
after he had served a prison sentence, he could 

84 




THE BOY WHO LOST HIS HOME 


85 


come back and be a man again—if he could really 
reform. 

But this is what I want to talk about here—How 
that young man came to be what he was. He told 
me the story of his life. He said when he was a 
small boy he lost his home. It was this way: 
His father died and, after a little while, his mother 
married again. But his stepfather did not want 
him around, and made such a fuss about it that he 
was finally set adrift. He had hard work to earn 
a living, and so he just drifted in and out of good 
and poor places. No one seemed to care to help 
him to lead a good life. He tried to go back to 
what he called home, but they would not have him. 
By and by he came to think that he did not care 
what he did and finally landed in the county jail. 
I did all I could for this young man. I gave him 
one of my own Bibles, and I hope I did him good. 

The point I want to make is: “ Do you appreci¬ 
ate your good homes? Do you honour your fa¬ 
thers and mothers ? ” When that young man, in 
jail, told me how he lost his home and how much 
he would have liked to have had a good home, I 
thought of you boys and girls and I wanted to give 
you the message—to make much of your fathers 
and mothers and to do all you could for them— 
they have done so much for you. In almost every 
case you will find behind a delinquent boy and girl 
a poor home or none at all. Remember—“ Hon¬ 
our thy father and thy mother.” 


XXXV 


THE COUNTERFEIT DOLLAR 


“ Keep thee far from a false matter ”— Exodus 23 : 7. 

A COUNTERFEIT is something which pre¬ 
tends to be that which it is not. It gets 
value only through that which it pretends 
to be. There are all sorts of counterfeits—coun¬ 
terfeit dollars, counterfeit cloth, counterfeit food, 
counterfeit men, women, boys and girls. The 
worst of all counterfeits are the human ones. 

I have here two metal dollars. One is of the 
standard fineness of silver and the other is of some 
base metal. But as you look at them—they look 
alike—each of them has the mottoes, “ E Pluribus 
Unum” and “ In God We Trust,” the lettering, 
“ United States of America,” the Liberty Head 
and the Eagle. Each is round, with milled edges, 
and has stamped on it, “ One Dollar.” 

So far as their claims go they ought to pass for 
the same value. But one is counterfeit and the 
other is genuine. 

How can we tell them apart? There is one 
sure way. Ring them. You can tell by the sound. 
One rings true. One rings false. One rings clear, 

revealing the silver. The other rings dull, show- 

86 


THE COUNTERFEIT DOLLAR 


87 


ing the base metal. What makes the difference in 
the ring ? That is an easy question—it is the metal. 

Here are boys and girls. Some are genuine and 
true in character. Some, we regret to say, are far 
from it. How may we tell the counterfeits ? They 
look alike. They dress alike. But let some crisis 
arise. Let some hardship come. Then listen to 
the ring. The counterfeit boys and girls say, “We 
can’t/’ “ We won’t,” “ We shan’t.” Now listen 
to the ring of the genuine silver-character kind of 
boys and girls. They say, “ Of course,” “ We 
can,” and “We will.” The genuine boys and girls 
are a delight. The counterfeit are a hardship to 
bear in the home, in the school and everywhere. A 
counterfeit dollar cannot become genuine, but a 
counterfeit boy and girl—and here is the joy —can 
become genuine. Ask your Saviour to help you, 
if you feel you are counterfeit, and He will give 
you a new heart which will make you genuine in 
character. 

There was a genuine character boy who was em¬ 
ployed in the office of a factory. The president 
of the company sent him with an important mes¬ 
sage to the president of another factory on the 
outskirts of the city. A big storm came on. The 
boy lost his way. When he got to the factory, the 
office was closed—it was so late. The boy did not 
give up. He found where his man lived. He went 
to his home only to be told he had gone to another 
part of the city. The boy did not find him there. 


88 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


He went again to the man’s house only to be told 
he had got home and gone out of the city. It was 
midnight and the boy went home. Next morning 
he reported to his employer who said to him, “ I 
wish every employee in my factory was just like 
you—you are genuinely interested. I am going to 
give you a better place and more pay.” This boy 
rang true. Ring true yourself. 


XXXVI 


SMILE! SMILE AGAIN! 


“A cheerful countenance —Proverbs 15:13. 



HE other day I had occasion to go back 
into the shipping-room of a large store. 
There were a number of men there. I 


noticed that there was quite a cheerful atmosphere 
about the place. I wondered at it. Then I chanced 
to look up and I saw a big placard with letters on 
it a foot high. This was what the letters spelled: 
“If you can’t smile we don’t want you back here.” 
That might be a good motto to copy and put up 
everywhere. Who wants anyone, anywhere, who 
can’t smile? 

Now, boys and girls! Will you help me out 
with this Story Sermon? I am going to ask you 
to do a very simple thing, which everyone of you 
can do and that is, Smile! Smile again! Thank 
you again. You look just fine with that smile on 
your faces. You have on good clothes but the 
best thing you have on, this minute, is a smile. 
“ Just hold that smile,” as the photographer would 
say, when he takes your picture. To wear a smile 
does not cost anything and makes everyone so 
much happier who comes in contact with you. 
Why not continue to wear it? 


90 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


There are two enemies of the smile. First— 
Old Mr. Grouch. He never likes to see anyone smil¬ 
ing. He will do anything to wipe a smile from 
the face. He does it so slyly that it is done before 
one realizes it. Here is a boy; a minute ago he was 
smiling, but now his smile is gone. Why? Old 
Mr. Grouch has got after him. Second—Old 
Aunty Doleful. She lives in a dark sub-cellar. 
She traps anyone she can who wears a smile. See 
a girl with a downcast countenance! You may be 
sure that Old Aunty Doleful has that girl down 
in the sub-cellar with her. 

How can you keep the smile on your faces and 
keep out of the hands of Old Mr. Grouch and Old 
Aunty Doleful ? Consider our text—“ A cheerful 
countenance ” and what goes just before it in the 
same verse —“A merry heart.” Now put them 
together and this is the way it reads—“ A merry 
heart maketh a cheerful countenance.” Get the 
smile inside you—in your heart—and the smile 
will soon get out on your face. This is what Jesus 
Christ, our Lord, tries to teach us—to get right 
inside and the outside will take care of itself. 


XXXVII 


THE WAY OF THE EAGLE 

“ They shall mount up with wings as eagles ” 

—Isaiah 40:31. 

B OYS and girls, when you go down-town, the 
next time, look up over the entrance to the 
post-office and you will see an eagle pic¬ 
tured in stone. Go to any post-office, in a town or 
city of any size, and you will always find an eagle 
in the same place. Now look at a silver coin— 
quarter, half-dollar or dollar of the United States 
—and you will find an eagle on it. 

Why was the eagle chosen by the United States 
as its symbol of power and influence? Why is 
the eagle so frequently mentioned in the Scrip¬ 
tures ? 

The characteristics of an eagle are: It flies in 
the upper air; it builds its nest away up on a high 
mountain-peak or tall tree; it rests on a high place. 

There's your reason. Our country was founded 
by men of high ideals and high purposes. They 
built this nation upon those high ideals and pur¬ 
poses. The Scriptures, before this nation was 
founded, set forth the very highest ideals of human 
life and character. 


9 1 


92 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


If you want to go the way of the eagle—First, 
keep your thoughts up. Do not think low or mean 
things, even if you are given great provocation. A 
while ago I was in Lincoln Park, Chicago. I saw 
in the distance a big, wire cage. It was about 
thirty-five feet high. I wondered what that cage 
could have in it. As I came up to it I saw it had, 
in the center, an old dead tree. On the very top¬ 
most bough of that tree was an eagle. That was 
a pretty low perch for an eagle, but he got up just 
as high as he could. You may be so caged in by 
circumstances that you are like that eagle. If you 
are—just get up like the eagle, as high as you can. 
Second, keep your words up. Do not descend to 
words of low estate. Low words burn, they sting, 
they cut; keep up away from them. Third, keep 
your actions up. We have the saying—“ Actions 
speak louder than words.” Boys and girls who 
say no low word can act mean and hurt as much, 
or more, by actions. 

If you want to think high thoughts, if you really 
want to be worth while—wait on the Lord, serve 
Him, pray to Him. He will always help you to 
keep up in your thoughts, in your words and in 
your actions. Consider the whole verse from 
which our text is taken—“ But they that wait upon 
the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall 
mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and 
not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” 


XXXVIII 


THREE KINDS OF APPLES 


“Keep ... my law as the apple of thine 
eye” —Proverbs 7:2. 

T HERE was once an old Michigan farmer 
who had a big apple-orchard. He knew 
all about apples and prided himself on his 
knowledge. He loved to talk about the different 
varieties of apples. In fact, he talked apples so 
much, in season and out of season, that, by some 
people, he was looked upon as a bit of a bore. 
But he certainly knew apples. He used to say that 
there were a great many varieties but, in reality, 
there were but three kinds of apples. 

First: The sour apple—in all its varieties. It 
was not agreeable to the taste. No matter where 
you found it, or how well cultivated, it was always 
sour. Second: The neutral-tasting or tasteless ap¬ 
ple. Whatever taste you had in your mouth that 
was the taste you got back. It was not good eat¬ 
ing, because there was no satisfaction in it. Third: 
The big, sweet apple, always good and always to 
be relied upon. If you had a bad taste in your 
mouth you may be sure it would be taken out be- 

93 


94 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


fore you got through eating this apple. Everyone 
liked it—could not help liking it. 

There are three kinds of boys and girls, while 
there are many varieties—big and little, well and 
badly dressed, knowing something and knowing not 
much of anything. First: Those who are sour to 
the taste; disagreeable in their ways. You can 
pick them out almost anywhere. What makes 
them disagreeable? It is a question not hard to 
answer. They get all they can out of everybody— 
parents, playmates, everyone—and give back as 
little as they can. Take John Snider—when he 
went anywhere with other boys he never would pay 
his share and, in the summer camp, he always 
shirked any work. Take Jane Jones—her mother 
had much to do but when a meal was over Jane 
disappeared so she would not have to help with the 
dishes. Second: Those who are tasteless. They 
reflect what you say and do. Give them a kind 
word and you get back the same; a cross word and 
you get back the same. It is tit for tat; just taste¬ 
less. They have no character of their own. They 
are easily influenced. Third: Those who are big 
and worth while; sweet and good and strong in 
character and life. Their motto is to do a little 
more than is required of them. In playing a game 
you can rely on them not to get mad and quit 
when things do not go to suit them. In school they 
do not try to shirk and dodge but to stand up to 
the rack no matter if things do go hard. They are 


THEEE KINDS OF APPLES 


95 


not cowards—afraid to be known as standing for 
the things that really count. They cannot be 
laughed into doing evil things. 

Boys and girls, in which class do you belong? 
I am not going to place you—you place yourselves 
—you know better than I do. This is practical 
talk. Are you in the sour class, the tasteless class 
or the worth-while class? If you are in one of the 
first two classes—hasten to get out of it, for you 
will never amount to anything until you do. Get 
into the “ Worth-while ” class. “ Keep . . . 

my law [of the “ Worth-while ” class] as the ap¬ 
ple of thine eye.” 


XXXIX 


s 


DAVID’S SUNG 

“ So David prevailed over the Philistine with a 
sling and with a stone .”— i Samuel 17 : 50. 

r M ^HE seventeenth chapter of the first book 
of Samuel gives us the story of how 
David, a shepherd lad, killed the giant 
Goliath who was a mighty man of war and over 
ten feet in height. It is an interesting story and it 
will pay you to read it when you get home, even 
if you have read it before. 

We all have our giants which defy us and try 
to scare us. They look big and mighty and we do 
not always conquer them as David did his. There 
is the giant of Laziness and he gets the better of 
many a boy and girl. There is the giant of Sulki¬ 
ness and he is a bad one. There is the giant of 
Mean Speaking. There is a whole tribe of giants. 
What is the name of your giant who is threatening 
you? 

David killed his giant with a very simple thing 
—a stone in a sling. But David could not have 
done it so easily unless he had had a lot of practise. 

He had practised again and yet again, and had 
gone over it all over again—in season and out of 

season—until it became second nature to him. 

96 



DAVID’S SLING 


97 


You see a skillful pitcher in a baseball team—he 
makes the ball go just where he wants it to go, and 
it all seems so easy. But you know, and I know, 
that that pitcher practises, in season and out of 
season, in order to do what he does. Practise 
makes perfect. You see a young woman sit down 
at the piano and play a difficult piece of music, 
without any music in front of her, and you know 
that what she does is the result of long hours of 
practise. All work worth while is the result, not 
only of desiring and wishing and hoping, but of 
practising. 

Boys and girls, if you wish to get rid of the 
giants that would destroy you, practise with a 
sling and stones. David took “ five smooth 
stones ” out of the brook (1 Samuel 17: 40) with 
which to kill his giant. We might call these five 
stones with which every boy and girl ought to 
practise: 1—“ Be Honest and Square.” 2 — 
“ Speak the Truth.” 3—" Be Kind.” 4—“ Be 
Prompt to Do the Things You Ought to Do.” 5— 
“ Be True to God and Your Conscience.” Prac¬ 
tise with these stones, and continue to practise and 
when a giant threatens you, you can usually kill 
him with one stone as David did his giant. David 
seems to have selected the fifth stone to kill Goliath 
for he said —“ I come to thee in the name of the 
Lord of hosts.” He had so often been with God 
and prayed to Him that the giant looked small and 
insignificant (1 Samuel 17: 45, 46). 



XL 

THE HUNTER AND THE BEAR 


“Pray without ceasing —i Thessalonians 5:17. 
“ Be strong .... and work .”— Haggai 2:4. 

T WO very lively boys, brothers, were one 
day playing up-stairs, in their own home 
on the third floor. There was a large, 
dark closet in one of the big rooms that served 
them for a bear den. One boy was a hunter, and 
the other played bear. They had a great time for 
a while. The hunter chased the bear, then the bear 
chased the hunter. Finally, after a lively time, the 
bear ran into the dark closet and hid behind a cou¬ 
ple of trunks piled one on the other. There he set 
up an awful growling to frighten the hunter away. 
The hunter did not dare to go too close to the bear 
and there was great excitement. Just as this play 
was at its height the wind blew the closet door 
shut. The door had a spring lock. 

Hunter and bear were at once transformed into 
two badly frightened boys. As the house was 
large, with plenty of rooms, the third floor being 
practically unused; it was only seldom that any¬ 
one went up there and then only to put things in 
order. No one knew that the boys were on the 
third floor. 


98 


THE HUNTER AND THE BEAR 


99 


What to do? What to do? At first the boys 
were so badly frightened that they did not know 
what to do. 

Both being Sunday-school boys, with their father 
and mother members of the church, it popped into 
their minds that here was a good place to test those 
things that they had heard in the Sunday school 
and church—the things the minister and their 
Sunday-school teacher talked about. They remem¬ 
bered about Daniel in the lion’s den and the three 
Hebrew children. They also recalled what the 
teacher had said about prayer and works when any¬ 
one got in a tight place. 

So Jim said to John—“ I will tell you what we 
will do—we will play * prayer and works.’ You be 
4 prayer ’ and I will be ‘ works.’ Now I will feel 
my way to the door and you pray just as hard as 
you can that someone will come to let us out and 
I will work as hard as I can pounding and kicking 
on the door. I am sure this plan will bring some¬ 
one.” And it did. Mother happened to come up 
to the third floor—she said afterwards it was in 
answer to the prayer—and heard Jim kicking on 
the door. So the boys were rescued. Prayer and 
works make a good team when you are in trouble. 


> > 

> > i 

> » > 


XU 


CHRISTMAS DAY 


“A little child shall lead them” —Isaiah ii : 6. 



HIS is a Christmas Day sermon. It is the 


time of the celebration of the birthday of 


our Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah, the great 
prophet, predicted His coming, long before He 
came. Our text is taken from one of his proph¬ 
ecies. Let us consider the whole verse, a part of 
which we have quoted: “ The wolf also shall dwell 
with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with 
the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the 
fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.” 
There is nothing strange about a little child leading 
a lamb or a kid; but there is something decidedly 
surprising about a child leading a wolf, a leopard 
or a lion. 

By the wolf, the leopard and the lion, Isaiah 
meant the savage forces in the world and that the 
Christ Child who was to be born would subdue 
and lead them so that they would have the nature 
of the kid and the lamb. Take one instance of 
where this has literally come to pass: When Jesus 
Christ was born it was the custom throughout the 
Roman Empire—no one thought much about it— 


CHEISTMAS DAY 


101 


that when a child was bom deformed, or blind, or 
crippled, it was just allowed to die because of no 
care being taken of it or it was put out and ex¬ 
posed, so that it would die. Jesus Christ has 
changed all that—that savageness has been sub¬ 
dued. 

There are two stories that Dr. J. M. Farrar told 
to his boys and girls which I want you to hear. I 
do not quote them exactly. They illustrate our 
text—“ A little child shall lead them.” 

There was once a very rough and uncouth family 
living in the slums of Chicago, in the fourth story 
of a tenement house. The father was brutal. The 
mother was a slattern. The three big boys were 
given to horse-play and coarse jests. There was 
born into that family a little deformed girl-baby. 
As the baby grew it was seen that there was no 
help for her deformity. But that little girl had 
a very sunny smile, and by it she wrought a mar¬ 
vellous change in that family. The father now 
spent his evenings at home, trying to amuse his 
deformed daughter. The boys vied with each 
other in getting things to bring that sunny smile 
on the face of their sister. The mother changed 
her slattern ways and cleaned up the rooms. That 
little child led the evil-minded family to better 
things. If it had not been for the Christ that little 
baby girl would have been left to die. “A little 
child shall lead them.” 

A missionary in the slums of the same city was 


102 


SEBMONS IN STOEIES 


called to go and see a very sick child. When he 
got to the tenement house he was directed up four 
flights of rickety stairs. He knocked at the door 
on the fourth landing. A rough voice said— 
“ Come in.” On the opposite side of the room 
was a big, hard-featured man holding a savage 
bulldog. The first thought of the missionary was 
that he had been lured to this place to be robbed. 
But the man, after quieting the bulldog, pointed to 
the other side of the room where a feeble candle 
was burning and a woman bending over a sadly 
emaciated sick child. The man then said to the 
missionary—his face strangely working and his 
voice full of tears—“ The little one is nearly gone 
—won’t you pray with us? ” The missionary’s 
fear was gone at once. After prayer had been 
offered the missionary recognized the child as one 
of the scholars of his mission; then the man and 
his wife told him of how much the little child had 
done for them through the teaching she had re¬ 
ceived at the mission. “A little child shall lead 
them.” 


XLII 


MOTHER’S DAY 

“If ye love me, keep my commandments 

—John 14: 15. 

T HIS is Mother’s Day. You know how it 
originated in the love a daughter had for 
her mother and her desire to honour her. 
The custom of observing Mother’s Day has spread 
to nearly every state in the Union. Now, boys 
and girls, without entering further into this story 
I want to talk to you about two things that Mother 
wants. There are many things that Mother wants. 
She wants to see her children well clothed, well 
fed, going to school, kind to everyone, to stand 
well with other boys and girls, to have good times 
and many other things. Then why should two 
things be singled out especially as being what 
Mother wants? Because these two things cover 
all the rest. If Mother is not here to-day I want 
you, when you go home, to tell your mother what 
I said and ask her if these are not the two things 
she w r ants most of all ? 

First: Mother wants you to love her. She loves 
you and she wants your love in return. Some¬ 
times you do not realize this fact. You want to 
do this and you want to do that and your “ Want 

103 


104 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


To Do It ” is very strong but Mother sees, in a 
certain case, if she lets you do it only harm can 
come to you and she has to say—“ No.” Then 
you think she does not love you and your love 
grows cold. But it is just at this point that she 
often loves you the most If she did not love you 
she would not care what you did or what harm 
came to you. She does for you continually be¬ 
cause of her great love for you. Mother wants 
your love first of all things. Abraham Lincoln 
loved his mother so much that, after he grew to 
manhood, he said, “All I am, or hope to be, I owe 
to my mother.” 

Second: Mother wants your obedience. She 
tries to do the very best she can for you. You 
cannot ever repay her for her care of you in actual 
money or service but you can please her beyond 
anything you can think of by being obedient to 
what she tells you to do. If you will look over in 
the Old Testament, in Exodus 20: 12, you will find 
this commandment—one of the ten great command¬ 
ments—“ Honour thy father and thy mother: that 
thy days may be long upon the land which the 
Lord thy God giveth thee.” If you will look in 
the New Testament—Luke 2: 51—you will find 
how Jesus Christ, as a boy, was obedient unto His 
parents and just about the last thing He did was to 
look out for and provide a home for His mother 
—John 19: 20, 27. Love and obey your mother, 
as Jesus Christ loved and obeyed His mother. 


XLIII 

WINGS OF IMAGINATION 


“ Oh that I had wings! ” —Psalm 55:6. 

A CITY boy was visiting his uncle who had 
a large farm near a small town. It was 
his first day. At night when he came in 
from an afternoon of exploring, as he called it, 
he said to his uncle, “ I saw a thousand rabbits 
crossing one of your fields about two hours ago. ,, 
His uncle said, “ Why! Why! Why!” “Well,” 
said the boy, “ there were at least five hundred.” 
His uncle again said, “ Why! Why! Why! ” 
Finally, after several trials and some more 
“ Whys,” on the part of his uncle, the boy got 
down to two rabbits and his uncle said, “ That’s 
more like it.” What was the matter with that 
boy? He was away, flying, on the wings of his 
imagination. Some people would call it by an¬ 
other name but let us give the boy the benefit of the 
doubt or the “ Wings.” 

A young girl sat on the steps of the stoop of her 
house. Some of her friends went by and spoke 
to her but she paid no heed to them. Her most 
intimate girl friend came and stood in front of 
her but it was as though she did not see her. Then 

105 


106 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


she came close and touched her and she came to 
with a start. Where had she been? Flying on the 
wings of her imagination. “ Day dreaming,” some 
call it. She said that she had flown away to a 
party. She had a new dress and a whole outfit 
of new things. She was spick and span, new from 
top to toe. Everyone at the party told her how 
pretty she looked. She had just been served with 
a big dish of ice-cream and was enjoying it so 
much when her girl friend touched her and brought 
her to earth. She said, “ Oh, why did you touch 
me, I was having such a good time.” 

Wings of Imagination! Boys and girls, you 
take wings and mount up into Imaginary Land. 
You fly about. You imagine what you are going 
to be, and what you are going to do, when you 
grow up. This boy is going to be a policeman, 
this one a fireman, this one a merchant, this one 
a banker; this girl is going to be a nurse, this one 
a teacher, this one a traveller, this one a stenog¬ 
rapher, and so on and on. It all seems so real in 
Imaginary Land. You just know exactly what 
you are going to do and you picture it all out. 
You seem actually to be doing the things you 
imagine. 

Have a care of Wings of Imagination where 
they take you. No teacher or parent can follow 
you into Imaginary Land. 

Imaginary Land has two parts. One part is 
the Land of Worthlessness where you can imagine 


WINGS OF IMAGINATION 


107 


all sorts of evil which you would not dare to tell 
anybody about or do. Because you can fly to this 
bad land and no one can follow you the tempta¬ 
tion is to go there. You know that land—beware 
of it. There lies within it danger of the worst 
kind. The other part is the Land of the Worth¬ 
while where you can imagine all sorts of successes 
and all sorts of worth-while things that you are 
going to be and do, when you grow up. How will 
you use the wings of your imagination? 


XLIV 

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH 
" Watch ” — Luke 21:36. 

A N automobile was badly wrecked near my 
house the other day. One of the front 
wheels was smashed. Fortunately, al¬ 
though there were four persons in the car, no one 
was hurt. The driver and owner of the car said 
it was his own fault as he was not watching the 
road. That’s the way most accidents occur—lack 
of watching the road. Signs are put up every¬ 
where—big “ L’s ” and big “ R’s,” “ Dangerous 
Curve,” “ Railroad Crossing,” but every morning 
we read, in the newspaper, of automobilists who 
do not watch out and as a result wreck their cars. 
The Bible and the Church put up signs along the 
road of moral life—“ Danger Ahead,” “ Look 
Out,” “ Take Care,” but every morning we read 
of boys and girls who have laughed at these signs 
and gone to wreck and ruin. 

Watch! What shall I watch? Watch five 
things. 

Here is my left hand. I hold it up. I spread 
my fingers apart. I take the first finger of my 

right hand and with it I count the thumb and 

108 


FIVE THINGS TO WATCH 


109 


fingers on my left hand. I then, if I want to, can 
easily remember the five things I am to watch. 

The thumb first—Watch What I Think. Good 
and evil begin not first in action but in what I 
think. I can do no evil, commit no wrong, with¬ 
out first in my thought considering it. I can do 
no good act without thinking it over. 

The first finger—Watch What I Say. Words 
are very pleasant things if I want them to be. 
Words cut and burn and blister when I want them 
to. Many a boy and girl have been wrecked on 
what they say. 

The second finger—Watch Where I Go. If I 
watch where I go and keep out of real or doubtful 
places of evil I will not get into trouble. 

The third finger—Watch What Company I 
Keep. A young man about twenty years of age 
came into this city the other day. He met some 
very agreeable young men who were very polite 
and kind. They offered to show him some of the 
sensational places. He at first objected, but these 
new-found, agreeable friends told him that he did 
not want to be a “ Mollycoddle ” and that he was 
old enough to know a “ thing or two.” So he 
went with them. Early next morning the wreck 
of this young man—his money and his watch gone 
—was picked up by the police and lodged in jail. 

The fourth finger—Watch What I Read. Good 
or bad it makes for what I think and what I do. 
Many a boy going off to read books alone and 


110 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


which he hides, until he has finished, has been 
wrecked by the reading thereof. Read books worth 
while—books that you are not ashamed to be seen 
reading—you will then be worth while. Suppose 
you start to-day to read through the New Testa¬ 
ment. Do it. It will set you upon and keep you 
upon the right road of life. 


XLV 

THE COTTON MILL BOY 

“ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wis¬ 
dom.” —Psalm hi: io. 

“Always abounding in the work of the Lord .”— 
i Corinthians 15: 58. 

“Fear God and Work Hard.” —Motto of the 
Cotton Mill Boy. 

I WANT to tell you the story, boys and girls, 
of a Scotch cotton mill boy who became a 
missionary, and what he did. Now some of 
you may think that a missionary, a foreign mis¬ 
sionary, does not amount to much. But this mis¬ 
sionary, when he died, all England and the world 
honoured. Pie was honoured so much that his 
body was buried in Westminster Abbey, in Lon¬ 
don, where only the bodies of those who have 
rendered the most illustrious service are placed. 

This cotton mill boy was born a few miles from 
Glasgow, in the village of Blantyre Works, Scot¬ 
land, on March 19, 1813. He had a most excellent 
father and mother but they were poor. When he 
was ten years of age he was put to work in a cotton 
mill. There was no child labour law in Scotland 
at that time. There was no eight-hour labour law. 
There was no law obliging parents to send their 



112 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


children to school or keep them in school any length 
of time. The hours were long. This boy went to 
work at six o’clock in the morning and worked 
until eight o’clock at night with just a little time 
off for dinner and supper. 

What could a boy do, to improve himself, after 
working in a cotton mill fourteen hours every day, 
six days in the week? You would say, “ Nothing, 
of course.” He would be too tired even to play. 
But this boy was different from the ordinary boy. 
He found, and went to a night school which held 
a session from eight to ten o’clock—then he went 
home and, if his mother did not take his books 
away from him, he would study until midnight. 
Not because he was obliged to but because he 
wanted to. He fitted himself for college and in 
1840, still working, he graduated from the Col¬ 
lege of Physicians and Surgeons in Glasgow, at 
twenty-seven years of age. 

He chose, as his life-work, to be a foreign mis¬ 
sionary. He went to Africa of which, at that 
time, little was known. At the very beginning of 
his career he came near being killed by a lion. He 
went all over Africa preaching the Gospel of Jesus 
Christ. He was the greatest explorer ever known. 
He discovered the river system of the Dark Conti¬ 
nent and the configuration of the land—a great 
basin-shaped plateau surrounded by mountains. 
He established missions everywhere. He first 
called attention to the evil of the slave traffic and 


THE COTTON MILL BOY 


113 


said and wrote so much about it that it led to its 
abolishment. 

The name of the cotton mill boy who had no 
natural advantages but who is one of the world’s 
very greatest men, is David Livingstone. If he 
could do so much with no natural advantages— 
how about you, who have so many? In address¬ 
ing a meeting of boys and girls when he was home 
from Africa, on a visit, he gave them this motto, 
which he said was his motto—“ Fear God and 
work hard.” 


XLV 

puzzle blocks 

“ The image of his son.” —Romans 8: 29. 


| ^HERE was a business man who had a 
wife and five children, at the time my 
story opens. The children were from six 
to seventeen years of age. He was very much in¬ 
terested in the bringing up of his children and in 
making home-life interesting to them. 

Going home from his office, late one afternoon, he 
saw in a store window a box of puzzle blocks. As 
he stopped to look at them he thought, to himself, 
that he might get something worth while from 
these blocks for his boys and girls. So he bought 
the box and took it home. It was on Friday. 

After supper, when the dining-room table had 
been cleared, he brought out the puzzle blocks. He 
said to his children, “ I want you to see if you can 
make these blocks into a square.” One after an¬ 
other tried but could not make the square—there 
were either too few or too many blocks—there 
were sixty-six blocks. 

Finally the oldest boy said, “ These blocks were 
never intended to make a square. You cannot 

make a square out of sixty-six blocks.” His father 

114 



PUZZLE BLOCKS 


115 


said, “ What were they intended to make? ” The 
boy replied, “ A picture. Now here is part of a 
hand, a foot, a face, an arm, and when you see 
these they must make up into a man.” “ Well/’ 
said the father, “ let us try and get the picture of 
a man out of these puzzle blocks.” Then they all 
began to work to make the picture-man and very 
soon they had him—every block coming into place 
with not too many or too few blocks. 

The father said, “ That is just what I wanted 
you to find out for yourselves.” I want you to 
apply it to your Bible which has sixty-six books— 
thirty-nine in the Old Testament and twenty-seven 
in the New Testament. Now there are some peo¬ 
ple who will tell you that the Bible is given to 
teach us history, geology, botany, the lives of great 
men or many other things which are incidental but 
the true purpose of the Bible is just what that of 
the puzzle blocks is, to bring out a picture. In the 
Bible it is the picture of Jesus Christ. We find in 
Isaiah, in Ezekiel and in all the prophets as in the 
Gospel writers parts of the picture which we com¬ 
bine to make the perfect picture of the Christ— 
“ The Image of His Son ” (Romans 8: 29). When 
you read and study your Bible—look for the pic¬ 
ture of Jesus Christ and you will find Him. 


XLVII 


WEST POINT WORDS 

“ Thy word have I hid in mine heart.” 

—Psalm 119:11. 

O NE day, one summer, I made a visit to 
West Point on the Hudson River to the 
great military training school of our 
United States. Going by steamboat from New 
York City I landed at a dock at the foot of a steep 
hill up which I had to climb to reach the buildings 
of the academy on top. The buildings, for all 
sorts of purposes, were very interesting, as was 
also the parade ground where the cadets were 
drilling. 

The building which surprised and interested me 
most—it was on the highest point and the largest 
and most ornate of all—was the West Point 
church. It was not called “ church,” but “ chapel.” 
My surprise was in not expecting to see, at a purely 
military school, so much made of the church. 

I was anxious to see the inside of the chapel. 
The inside was the same as any building of this 
sort except the battle flags—some of them old and 
tattered—hanging from the side-walls. 

As soon as I was inside my attention was at 

116 


WEST POINT WORDS 


117 


once arrested by the great stained glass window at 
the farther end, which seemed to occupy about all 
the space. This window was in three sections. In 
the center of each section was a single word. The 
first section, to the left, had the word—“ Duty.” 
The middle section the word—“ Honour.” The 
third section—“ Country.” The words seemed to 
blaze with light. 

Every cadet marshalled into chapel sees these 
words the first thing. They remain constant 
through the service. That was the intention in 
placing these words that the cadet might see them 
and not only see them but hide them in his heart, 
that they might remain ever before him wherever 
he might be. 

The Bible is like a great cathedral with immense 
stained-glass windows. When we go inside there 
are not only these words of “ Duty,” “ Honour ” 
and “ Country,” but also “ Love the Lord Your 
God ” and “ Love Your Fellow Man.” We can¬ 
not always be reading the Bible but we can so hide 
it in our hearts that its words and precepts will re¬ 
main constant in our hearts and guide us in all we 
do. 


XLVIII 
NEW MONEY 

" Without blemish —Leviticus 23:12. 

A MAN wanted to buy a book on the govern¬ 
ment of the United States. He wrote and 
asked the price. Very soon a letter came 
back with no stamp on it—the Government does 
not have to use its own postage stamps. This let¬ 
ter told the price of the book and how to send the 
money. There was a printed circular enclosed 
which told him what kind of money to send. 

First—no stamps or checks would be received. 
Second—no coins worn or slick or defaced would 
be received. Third—no old, or worn, or torn bills 
would be received. 

Money, in coins or bills, must be bright and new 
and clean, to be received by the Government of 
the United States. 

That is, money to be received must be “ without 
blemish.” If we turn to our text and read the 
twenty-third chapter of Leviticus we find there 
the kind of offering that the Lord God asked of the 
Israelites—“ An he-lamb without blemish.” 

God wants—when we make an offering to Him 

—to make it of the best we have, just as our 

118 


NEW MONEY 


119 


Government wants new coins or bills if we buy 
anything of it. 

If we love God why should we not give Him of 
our best ? When a girl goes to a party, at the home 
of her best friend whom she loves with all her 
heart, she puts on her very best things. If it is a 
birthday party she carries a present—not some old 
thing—but some new thing—the nicest thing she 
can afford. 

When a boy goes to see a girl he thinks a good 
deal of he puts on his best clothes and carries her 
something—not any old thing—but something new 
and good. 

Let us, when we give, in church or Sunday 
school, consider to whom we give. Let us think 
how much Jesus Christ has done for us and give 
Him of our best. “ A pastor was taking a mis¬ 
sionary collection recently when he said, ‘ I want 
each of you to give to-day as though you were 
putting your money right into the pierced hand of 
Jesus Christ/ A lady came up afterwards and 
said, “ I was going to give half a dollar, but I did 
not do so/ * Why did you not do it? ’ the preacher 
asked. She replied, * Do you think I would put a 
half-dollar into His pierced hand? I have ten 
dollars at home and I am going to give that/ ” If 
we thought this way of putting “ new money ” 
generously into the pierced hand of our Lord, how 
much more we could do. 









XIJX 

LINCOLN—THE POOR BOY 

“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a 
workman that needeth not to be ashamed ”— 2 Tim¬ 
othy 2:15. 

11 Tj FATHER, where were you born?” “ Fa- 

|l ther, what did you do when you were a 
boy ? ” Boys and girls are continually 
asking their fathers these questions. 

Likewise, boys and girls want to know about 
the birth and boyhood of the great men of our 
country—what they did when they were boys. 

I want to talk to you here about Abraham 
Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United 
States, whom we all revere for his great services 
in most trying times. 

He was a poor boy, born (February 12, 1809) 
in the most humble circumstances in a log cabin 
with one door, one window and a hard-packed dirt 
floor. This cabin was located about three miles 
from Hodginville, Kentucky. The surroundings 
in the big woods were very primitive. The wolves 
howled outside at night. The fare of the family 
was com pone and salt pork. 

Lincoln’s father was restless and shiftless. His 

mother was rather a superior woman, and she 

120 


LINCOLN—THE POOR BOY 


121 


taught her little son Abraham to read and write. 
When the boy was nine years old she died. The 
father married again and this time the boy also 
got a good mother who exerted a splendid influence 
over her stepson. She lived to see him President 
of the United States. 

The shiftlessness of the father threw a great 
burden of work upon the boy—a burden which 
made it necessary for him to get up and get to 
work at dawn, and to keep at it as long as he could 
see. 

Very early the boy determined to amount to 
something, in spite of the hardness of his daily 
life. His poverty acted as a spur. He did not say 
to himself, “ I have no chance and no opportunity.” 
He made his own chance and his own opportunity. 

He loved books. After a hard day’s work he 
would stretch himself on the floor of the cabin, in 
front of the log fire in the big fireplace, and with 
this as the only light, read and study his books. 
We know what those books were—1, The Bible; 
2, Pilgrim’s Progress; 3, TEsop’s Fables; 4, 
Weems’ Life of Washington; 5, History of the 
United States; 6, Shakespeare; 7, Burns’ Poetical 
Works. Where can you get a better list to-day? 
Notice that he placed the Bible first. 

Lincoln’s boyhood shows that nothing can keep 
a boy down who is determined to amount to some¬ 
thing, and who is willing to pray and to work hard 
to gain his ends. 


L 

WASHINGTON—THE RICH BOY 


“And he that overcometh . . . will I give 

power over the nations —Revelation 2 : 26 . 



INCOLN—the poor boy—had to overcome 


the handicap of poverty. Washington— 


the rich boy—had to overcome the handi¬ 


cap of riches. A boy who is born in a family 
where he has everything without any exertion on 
his part and who can, if he wishes to do so, idle 
away his time, must rouse himself and work, as 
hard as a poor boy, to amount to anything. 

George Washington, the first president of the 
United States, was born at Bridges Creek, West¬ 
moreland County, Virginia, February 22 , 1732. 

His family were in very easy circumstances. 
The usual life of a boy born on one of the old 
southern plantations in Virginia was having a good 
time hunting and fishing with a very little school¬ 
ing—just to enable him to read and write and keep 
accounts. But the main idea was having a good 
time. 

But this boy, George Washington, was not made 
up that way. All sorts of stories are told of him 
—some true, some untrue—but they all show that 


122 


WASHINGTON—THE EICH BOY 123 


he very early determined to amount to something 
and that he would get out from under the power 
of the easy life in which he had been born. 

His mother had great influence over him. It is 
said that she taught him four things which assisted 
largely in making him what he afterwards became 
—1, To always speak the truth, come what would ; 
2, To be obedient to those over him and to the 
principles of his religion; 3, To be frugal (this 
was great teaching considering the fact of the 
wealth of the family) ; 4, To be industrious when 
there was little call for it in his case. 

The schools were quite elementary, in this boy’s 
time, and so when he was sixteen years of age— 
refusing to live at his ease—he struck out for him¬ 
self. He chose to be a surveyor, at first, on the 
Fairfax estate and then for three years on the 
wild frontier of a new country. He had to live in 
the most primitive way, in doing his work, and to 
undergo many hardships. But this was the style 
of this boy. In this hard, rough life on the frontier 
he learned the lessons which were of so much use 
to him when he led the Continental Army to vic¬ 
tory. 

No wonder that it was said of George Washing¬ 
ton that he was “ first in war, first in peace, and 
first in the hearts of his countrymen.” 

Look at our text and note how it fits this great 
character. The name of this great man has power 
not only over our country but over other nations, 


124 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


because he overcame the handicap of his birth and 
his circumstances. 

The reputations of some men fade out, after a 
few years, and finally go out like a burnt-out can¬ 
dle, but George Washington and his principles are 
better known to-day and are doing more good than 
even while he was alive because he is better under¬ 
stood. 


LI 

ROOSEVELT—THE SICK BOY 


u Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy 
might ” —Ecclesiastes 9:10. 


W HEREVER you find a boy who 
amounts to anything as a man, you find 
that he has gone through the process of 
self-determination. He has not been made great 
by his circumstances but by his will to overcome 
the obstacles that blocked his way. Lincoln had 
to overcome poverty, Washington had to overcome 
riches and Roosevelt, another great president of 
our country, had to overcome sickness. Lincoln 
and Washington were country boys while Roose¬ 
velt was a city boy. “ Honour and fame from no 
condition rise.” If a boy is kept down it is himself 
that keeps him down. 

Theodore Roosevelt, the twenty-sixth president 
of the United States, was born in New York City 
on October 27, 1858. His earliest remembrance, 
he used to say, was of being sickly and weak and 
being carried in his father’s arms gasping for 
breath—for he had asthma. He got strength of 
mind and heart from hearing his father conduct 
family prayers. “ The best man I ever knew,” he 

*25 


126 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


afterwards wrote. At ten years of age, sent to 
visit relatives in the West, two older boys, in the 
stage-coach, so set to tease and badger him, he 
looked so sickly, that he then and there determined 
that he would conquer his weak body and become 
strong, which he did. At fourteen years of age he 
went up the Nile River, in Egypt, with his parents. 
Instead of spending his time in merely having a 
good time he made a collection of Nile birds which 
was found worthy to occupy an honoured place in 
the Smithsonian Institute in Washington. 

It is the same story that might be repeated, over 
and over again, of all our great men. There must 
be the getting hold of oneself, as a boy, and a de¬ 
termination to be and do something worth while. 

Theodore Roosevelt honoured every position 
which he held from the lowest to the highest in the 
land. He was a thoroughgoing Christian man. 
While in high school, preparing for college, and 
then all through his course in Harvard University, 
he taught in a mission Sunday school. He not 
only helped himself up, but he tried to help others 
up. 


LII 

JESUS CHRIST—THE MASTER BOY 

“ Wist ye not that I must he about my Father’s 
businesst ”■— Luke 2: 49. 

(Read the account of Jesus Christ and what He 
did at twelve years of age in Luke 2: 41-52.) 

I N’ the three previous sermons we have talked 
to you about Lincoln, the poor boy, Wash¬ 
ington, the rich boy and Roosevelt, the sick 
boy. In this sermon we want to talk to you about 
“Jesus Christ—the Master Boy/’ whom they 
revered and followed and who was their inspira¬ 
tion as He has been the inspiration and guide of 
countless other boys who have made their lives 
worth while in this world. If you really want to 
be worth while and make your lives count follow 
“ Jesus Christ—the Master Boy.” 

Jesus Christ was a poor boy—so far as His 
earthly circumstances were concerned—born in 
Bethlehem of Judaea, in a manger. His home, 
afterwards in Nazareth, was circumscribed in its 
opportunities. When He grew to young manhood 
He learned and worked at the trade of carpenter. 

We have just one recorded glimpse of His life 
in the period from His birth to His going forth on 

127 


128 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


His great mission. He was twelve years of age. 
We see the determination of the boy. He had 
come to see His mission at that early age. He be¬ 
lieved, in Himself, that He was born to do great 
things. He said, when His parents came to take 
Him back to Nazareth, “ Wist ye not that I must 
be about my Father’s business? ” 

What was “ The Master Boy ” doing in the 
Temple? (See Luke 2:46.) First—He was in 
good company. It is bad company that ruins many 
a boy and girl. If you want to get on—get into 
good company; the good company of right 
thoughts, the best books and the people who will 
help you up not down. Second—He was listening. 
He wanted to hear what these older and wiser 
men had to say. Some boys and girls are so full 
of themselves that they think they know it all and 
that no one can teach them. The way to get on 
is to listen to the best things spoken by those who 
know the best ways. Third—He was asking ques¬ 
tions. He wanted to know what they knew and 
what they were thinking about. It is a great thing 
to be able to ask questions that are really worth 
while. Anyone can ask foolish questions. We 
learn by asking questions which are worth while. 

Notice that “ The Master Boy ” was loyal to 
His parents. He respected and honoured them and 
returned with them to the home in Nazareth. He 
who was born to be so great and do such mighty 
things and whom the whole world honours, to-day, 


JESUS CHEIST—THE MASTEE BOY 129 


as it honours no one else, was obedient and loyal 
to His parents. He had the greatest mission in 
the world to perform. We cannot do great things 
well unless first we are loyal and true in the smaller 
things of life. 

Follow “ The Master Boy.” 


LIU 

USE YOUR EYES 

“ Look ” —Philippians 2:4. 


T HIS story is told of Marshall Field who 
built up the largest department store in 
Chicago. It was a number of years ago 
when this incident occurred and when Mr. Field 
was in active management of the business. 

Two boys came in from the country and applied 
for places on the wholesale side. As they seemed 
bright and intelligent boys they were given an op¬ 
portunity to start in at the beginning. They did 
not mind this, and were very glad to have a chance. 

As time went on they were advanced and worked 
happily side by side. One day, however, one of the 
boys was promoted to a higher position—passing 
over the heads of a number of employees who had 
been in the store for a much longer time. Of 
course the passed-over employees did not like this, 
while his fellow country boy, who had begun with 
him, getting no promotion, was quite put out about 
it. 

He was so much put out about it that he went 
directly to Mr. Field and, getting an interview, 
laid his grievance before him. He told Mr. Field 

130 


USE YOUR EYES 


131 


that he had worked hard and conscientiously and 
that he thought he ought to be advanced as well 
as his chum. Mr. Field said, “ Quite so, you have 
worked hard and faithfully. 

“ Now let us see; I hear a noise in the alley. I 
wish you would go and see what is going on 
there.” The boy went and returned and said, “ It 
is a big truck loading goods.” “ Very true,” said 
Mr. Field. “ Now go and see what kind of goods.” 
The boy soon returned and said, “ Cases of 
gloves.” “ Very true,” said Mr. Field. “ Now go 
again and ask where the gloves are going.” The 
boy soon returned and said, “ To Dubuque, Iowa.” 

“ Now sit here and I will call for your chum,” 
who soon came in. Mr. Field said to him, “ I hear 
a noise in the alley. I wish you would go and find 
out what it is.” The boy was gone only a short 
time. When he came back he said, “ It is a big 
truck loading cases of gloves for Dubuque, Iowa.” 

“ There,” said Mr. Field, turning to the first 
boy, “ it took you three trips to the alley to see 
what your chum saw in one trip. I hope you un¬ 
derstand now why he got his promotion; use your 
eyes.” 

Boys and girls, if you want to get on in this 
world and make some advancement—Use your 
eyes. Look out for opportunities to be of use to 
someone else. The boy that got on was being 
watched, when he thought no one was noticing 
him. You cannot go wrong but what someone 


132 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


sees it. You cannot do a good thing, say a right 
word, but that someone knows it. Don’t wait to 
have someone point out to you what you ought to 
do—look out and do good things without being 
told. Your reward is sure. 


LIV 

WHAT A WATERMELON SEED CAN DO 


" Multiply your seed .” —2 Corinthians 9:10. 

A WATERMELON was served at a certain 
man’s house one day, as a dessert. It was 
a very sweet and good melon. 

This man especially observed the seeds, how 
black and shiny they were. He got to thinking of 
how many seeds there were in that melon. There 
seemed to be such a host of them. 

After he had finished with his portion of the 
melon he gathered up the seeds and had them 
dried. After they were dried he weighed them. 
He found from the number he had weighed that 
it would take about five thousand seeds to make a 
pound. 

Now notice this: Plant one of these seeds, at the 
proper time, in the ground and it at once takes off 
its jacket of brilliant black and goes to work. It 
works fast and works all the time. It keeps at it 
day and night. It is always on the job. No mat¬ 
ter what other seeds are doing. No matter whether 
it rains or shines it just keeps right straight ahead 
with its work. 

It sends up a tiny shoot of green, a little leaf 

1 33 


134 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


comes out, then the stem goes on a ways, then some 
more leaf things and then some blossoms. How 
it works! So it goes. It has got to make a lot of 
vine and leaves and blossoms. Then the water¬ 
melons begin to form. They will be large if every¬ 
thing goes right. Every bit of stuff to make a 
melon, just right, has got to be carried through a 
little bit of stalk—the green and the white colour¬ 
ing, the substance and the seeds. 

You notice how silently and swiftly and effi¬ 
ciently it works. There is no protest and no com¬ 
plaint. All to make happiness and good cheer in 
this world. 

There is the lesson of the watermelon seed. 
Look over it and notice so many, many, things of 
value. See how efficient it is! How it does not 
stop for praise and is not deterred by blame! It 
keeps right at its task until it is accomplished. 

We talk about doing things together and about 
cooperation and that little can be done without get¬ 
ting together and all lifting at the same time. It 
is exceedingly good talk and worthy of our con¬ 
sideration. But boys and girls, what is really 
wanted is for everyone to go to work right where 
you are and imitate the watermelon seed which 
does not wait for other watermelon seeds to join 
in union work. This seed starts right in where it 
is and does things. This is what is needed in this 
Sunday school, that everyone should get busy— 
this is the best sort of union and cooperative work. 





LV 

THE WHITE LINE 

“He marketh it out with a line” —Isaiah 44:13. 

T HE other day I was in a certain large city 
and I noticed that at every street crossing, 
in the business section, there was a broad, 
white line marked out, running up from the near 
crossing for about thirty feet. It was about six 
feet from the curb and a few feet from the street¬ 
car track. 

Every automobile and truck coming along care¬ 
fully avoided getting within this line no matter 
how they were crowded for space, by other ve¬ 
hicles. 

People stood within that line and the street-car 
tracks with perfect safety, although they were 
standing out in the street. Within the White Line, 
however, was the only place in the block where 
this could be done. This was known as the Safety 
Zone. Every block had its Safety Zone. It was 
the Zone for the loading and unloading of the 
street-cars. 

There are White Lines for Safety Zones where 
traffic converges in the street blocks of our lives: 
The Safety Zone of “ Truthfulness.” It is dis- 

*35 


136 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


tinctly marked. It cannot be mistaken. You can 
see just where it is. There is no mistake about it. 
Step outside and you are not safe. Within it you 
are always safe. 

The Safety Zone of “ Honesty.” What a temp¬ 
tation there is sometimes, for a little advantage, 
not to be quite honest. But there is the “ White 
Line.” Step over at your peril. 

The Safety Zone of “ Fair Play.” A game is 
going on. Everyone is relying on every other one 
to be fair. That’s the beauty of the game. A boy 
or girl sees a chance, just a little chance, to cheat 
just a little—to win the game and steps over the 
White Line out of the Safety Zone and is caught 
and that is the end of that boy’s or girl’s useful¬ 
ness. They are branded, and denounced, as cheats. 

Keep within the White Lines of truth, of hon¬ 
esty, of fair play. Then when the cars of oppor¬ 
tunity come along you have your chance for some¬ 
thing better and bigger farther on. You are not 
left crippled outside. 


LVI 

THE WEIGHING MACHINE 


“Let me be weighed in an even balance —Job 31:6. 

S EVERAL years ago, before the European 
War, I was in London. Through a friend I 
got permission to visit the Bank of England, 
and to go through its vaults where visitors are 
seldom shown. 

One of the things that interested me very much 
was a small weighing machine for gold sovereigns. 
It was enclosed in glass. The sovereigns to be 
weighed were shovelled by an attendant, with a 
small scoop, upon a slanting tray of brass. This 
led to a contracted chute just wide enough for a 
single sovereign to pass easily to a little disk. The 
sovereign rested for a second on this disk and then 
was thrown to the right or left. 

I asked the attendant what this throwing to the 
right or left meant and he said, “ Sovereigns come 
to us from all parts of the world. In order to 
keep the currency up to the standard they must be 
of a certain weight. This little machine weighs 
each sovereign. If of the correct weight it is 
thrown to the right. If not up to weight—it is 

i37 


138 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


thrown to the left. There is no partiality. The 
machine never makes a mistake.” 

That weighing machine, boys and girls, repre¬ 
sents life. 

We are all being weighed—not once in a while, 
but every day. Your teachers weigh you. They 
can tell you, if they choose, how you stand in your 
classes and how much you are worth. This is a 
weighing which you think comes only at examina¬ 
tions, but the teachers do not have to wait for 
examinations. 

Your companions weigh you. They weigh you 
quite accurately. Sometimes a boy or girl is sur¬ 
prised to hear what his or her companions think 
of them. They have a very good opinion of them¬ 
selves, but to hear this schoolboy and schoolgirl 
opinion, takes all the conceit out of them. 

All through life we are being weighed and quite 
constantly. We weigh—are worth—more at times 
than we are at other times. 

The sovereign cannot take on, or put off weight, 
but we can. We can take off the weight of char¬ 
acter so that no one will hold us in esteem, or we 
can put on weight of character so that everyone 
will hold us in esteem. 

It is for us, individually, to say just how much 
we want to weigh in God’s sight and in the sight 
of our fellows. 

Sometimes a boy applies for a situation. It is a 
place he wants. It will give him a chance. He 


THE WEIGHING MACHINE 


139 


does not get it. Why ? Because his character was 
light weight. The most important thing in this 
world is to have a character that will stand the 
test and be of the right weight. The Christian 
character is always sure, when really taken on, to 
be of the right weight. 


LVII 

A BOY'S DREAMS 


The dreams of Joseph .— Genesis 37:5-11. 

D REAMS are queer things. After all the 
dreams people have had it seems as if we 
ought to know something more about 
them. But the learned men who have most pains¬ 
takingly tried to find out all about them can tell 
us very little, after all their trying. 

We dream. We have the most vivid dreams. 
Sometimes we can remember them, and sometimes 
we cannot. We are happy, we are unhappy, in 
our dreams. But this is a fact we are apt to dream 
along the line of our hopes and ambitions. What 
do we want to be? What do we want to have? 
What are our loves and hates ? Here we find our¬ 
selves dreaming. Here are the dreams of boys 
and girls. 

There is a boy by the name of Joseph whose 
story is told us in the Old Testament. It is a very 
interesting story. How from a simple shepherd 
lad he became the ruler of a great people—one of 
the greatest of the ancient world. He began it all 

by having great ambitions of what he hoped to be. 

140 


A BOY’S DREAMS 


141 


He had eleven brothers at the time our story 
opens (Genesis 37: 5-11). His father and mother 
were alive. His brothers were plodders. They 
do not seem to have had the least ambition. All 
they cared for was to get enough to eat, a place to 
sleep and a fairly good time. 

Joseph was of a different order of boy. He was 
ambitious to get on. He wanted to make some¬ 
thing of himself. To be worth while in the world. 
To have a name and a place. His dreams were 
along this line. He dreamed rather ambitious 
dreams of his brethren coming to bow down to him, 
as they afterwards did. But they did not like him 
to dream such dreams and then come and tell them 
of it. Perhaps it was a little hard on his older 
brothers to be told that they would bow down to 
their younger brother. So they hated him and 
tried to get him out of the way. But the way they 
took caused his dreams to come true. 

Boys and girls, if you want to be anything worth 
while in this world—to amount to anything—begin 
to think of it now while you are young. Think so 
hard about it that you will dream of it as Joseph 
dreamed of it and kept dreaming about it. 

Look to your dreams and see what you are 
dreaming about. Are they things you would not 
do—would not dare to actually do—when awake 
—then change what you are thinking about and 
see if your dreams do not clear up. 

You must think and plan ahead now, as Joseph 


142 


SEEMONS IN STOEIES 


did, if you want to take any important place in 
this world. Jesus Christ, when He was twelve 
years of age, had already begun to plan what He 
would do and be. » 

Do not be afraid to have dream castles in the 
air and to people them with your plans. It is quite 
sure that if you have no castles in the air you will 
have no castles on earth. Every great building was 
first an architect’s dream. Every great career of 
every man and woman was first a dream. Every 
good cause that has blessed mankind was first a 
dream of the good that might come to pass. 


LVIII 


THE VOICES OF THE CLOCKS 

“Take ye heed—for ye know not what the time 
is” — Mark 13 : 33 . 

C LOCKS have quite distinct voices. If you 
have several clocks in your house and have 
listened to them as they ticked off the time, 
you have, no doubt, been surprised at their very 
different ways of expressing themselves. 

Some are soft and musical. Some are harsh. 
Some are sharp, with a metallic tone. Some you 
can scarcely hear. Some make no end of noise 
and racket. 

There were two clocks, of which I wish to speak. 
They were in an old-fashioned house in a certain 
small town. 

One was a big grandfather clock which occupied 
a place of honour in the big sitting-room. When 
it ticked, it did so very slowly, very deliberately. 
It said, “ Tick, tick, tick, tick.” There seemed to 
be long pauses between the ticks which made you 
wonder if it would ever go on. Its voice seemed 
to say, “ Plenty of time, plenty of time, don’t 
hurry, don’t hurry.” 

The other was a small, nickel clock which had 

*43 


144 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


its place on the kitchen shelf. It had a white dial 
and black hands. It had also an alarm which 
could be set so as to wake one up early in the 
morning—and that alarm was some sounder, for 
when it got going in the morning it seemed as if 
the fire-bell was ringing. Now this clock said, 
“ Tick, tick, tick, tick,” just as fast as it could. 
There was no waiting here. It seemed to be all 
business and to say, “ Get there, get there, get 
there, get there.” 

Now the clock in the kitchen knew that there 
was not plenty of time. It knew that there had to 
be some hurrying to get the meals on time and the 
children off to school. It knew that to accomplish 
anything and do it well that some attention had 
to be paid to time and that every “ Tick ” had to 
be utilized. 

By which clock are you trying to live? By the 
one which says, “ Plenty of time ” to get your 
lessons—to do what you are expected to do—to do 
good and useful things? Or by the clock that bids 
you to be up and doing and not to neglect the 
things you ought to do and to do them now? 
Watch and see how differently people regulate 
their lives by one clock or the other. 


ux 

FINGER PRINTS 

“ That which their own fingers have made ” 

—Isaiah 2:8 . 

T HE other day a young man—rather a fine 
young man and well educated—was sent 
to our city jail. To meet him he appeared 
very much like any other young man of good per¬ 
sonality. 

He was charged with burglary. In the course 
of this robbery, in which several thousands of dol¬ 
lars were stolen, a murder was committed. No 
one had seen this young man when he looted the 
office of the manufacturing company and no one 
had seen him commit the murder when he killed 
the watchman. 

How then could this young man be held for 
robbery and murder? It seems, in the alarm that 
was sent out, that this young man was taken up 
on suspicion. Then, when he was brought to the 
jail, impressions of his fingers were taken. These 
impressions corresponded exactly with the finger 
prints that were left by the man who had been in 
the office at the time of the robbery and those 
which were left on the instrument with which the 

*45 


146 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


watchman was killed. There could be no doubt 
but that this good-appearing young man was the 
man wanted. He confessed and was sent to the 
state penitentiary for life. Certainly a sad ending 
to what promised to be a bright career. 

What did it ? What condemned this young man 
and made the proof positive of his wrong-doing? 
Why, just his finger prints. His record was plain. 

Everyone, boys and girls, is constantly making 
a record. Wherever we go we make a record. 
That record, when we want to do anything, comes 
up to confront us. If it is good we get great gain 
by it. If it is bad, no matter how hard we may try 
to explain it or get rid of it, it condemns us. 

We may not be conscious of making a record 
but we are making it just the same. We cannot 
help making it. It is according to what we think 
that our outside record is made. 

Try for a good record—one which is worth 
while-—one that will do honour. 


LX 


THINGS THAT MATTER 

“For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the 
whole world, and lose his own soult ” —Matthew 
16:26. 

I N athletic matters it is of great importance 
what boys and girls do or do not do if they 
are to gain the places they desire. If they 
are to be successes there are rules and regulations 
that must be strictly lived up to. 

In school honours it is of great importance, 
likewise, that there be hard and diligent study to 
attain to the required standards. 

These “ things that matter ” in athleticism and 
school honours are well understood but in the mak¬ 
ing of a moral and spiritual character they do not 
seem to be so well understood—hence we have so 
many boy and girl wrecks. Bright boys and girls, 
excelling in athletics and school honours, and go¬ 
ing down through not exercising the same care to 
build up characters that they did in other things. 

The “ things that matter ” in the making of 
moral and spiritual character are easily set forth 
and they are not hard to observe and practise. 
They do their work just as effectively as the rules 
for honours in athleticism and school. 

147 


148 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


First—Keep clean inside. “ Out of the heart 
are the issues of life.” What is thought will by 
'and by manifest itself in action. The heart prin¬ 
ciples must be right—without they are right no 
outward show of conformity can long maintain it¬ 
self.. Keep Jesus Christ in the heart; make Him 
“ The Master ” who decides, and you cannot go 
wrong. 

Second—Go with the right sort of companions. 
It is important. What can be expected of a boy 
or girl who goes with those who make sport of ail 
moral and good things and who have only sneers 
for anything worth while? What happens to the 
good apple that is laid alongside of the rotten 
apple ? 

Third—Be careful of what books you read. 
Some—most of them—evil books are written in a 
very pleasing style. They seem to offer a larger 
and freer life. It is the same sort of an appeal 
that comes to a boy in training to break training. 
But when he does break training he is out. Be 
careful of the books you read, that they are worth 
while and get you somewhere. 

Fourth—Take care of the places you visit. 
Some of the worst seem to be the most attractive 
—made so on purpose to attract the flies for the 
spiders which lie in wait. “ Beware of the sin 
which offers to pay its board in advance.” 

Fifth—Beware of what pictures you hang on the 
walls of your private picture gallery on the inside 


THINGS THAT MATTEB 


149 


hall of your heart—which no one visits but your¬ 
self. Have no pictures of the imagination there 
that you would not be willing for anyone to see. 

Now kindly look at our text. We have immor¬ 
tal souls. They are worth all the care we can give 
to them. 


LXI 

DRAWING THE LINE 

“A man with a measuring line ”—Zechariah 2:1. 

T HERE was a man once, who lived in a 
large house about half a mile from the 
main road. His private roadway skirted 
the edge of a cliff. 

His old chauffeur had left him and he advertised 
for another. Three men answered the advertise¬ 
ment. They all, from their appearance, seemed 
good men. 

This man, who had put in the advertisement, 
took the applicants in the order in which they 
came and began to question them. He first told 
them about how near his private roadway ran to 
the edge of the cliff. Now he said to the first man, 
“ How near do you think you could run the car 
to the edge of the cliff with safety ? ” The man, 
mentally measuring the distance, replied, “ I think 
about twelve inches.” The same question was put 
to the second man. He thinking he would get the 
job, replied, “ About six inches.” The third man 
hearing these replies reached for his hat and said 
that he thought he would be going. “ Wait,” said 
the man who was putting the question, “ let me ask 

I 5° 


DRAWING THE LINE 


151 


how near do you think you could come to the edge 
of the cliff with safety?” He replied, “It is of 
no use for me to even think of getting this place 
for I should drive the car just as far away from 
the edge of that cliff as I possibly could. Good¬ 
bye, sir.” “ Hold on a minute,” said the employer. 
“ You are just the man I am looking for. I do 
not propose to have any risks taken with my life 
so far as that cliff is concerned.” 

This story well sets forth the attitude of you 
boys and girls toward things that may result in 
harm to you—things in which there is a certain 
risk and danger. You know well what I mean, for 
you are constantly called upon to make decisions 
as to what you will or will not do. You have 
something in your heart which tells you when you 
are taking a risk—no need for your parents or 
teachers to tell you. 

First, in regard to anything that is evil in which, 
if you attempt it, you may be caught and disgraced, 
there are those of you who go just as near as you 
can to it. You call yourselves “ The Daring 
Ones.” You dare others to come with you, you 
double dare them, as though it were an exceed¬ 
ingly brave thing to go just as near the edge of 
evil as you can. Here, frequently, you go over 
the cliff of evil and we have the school and home 
scandals. You are not “ The Daring Ones ”— 
you are “ The Foolish Ones.” There are those of 
you, secondly, who go a little less near but still 


152 


SERMONS IN STORIES 


are in danger. Again there are those of you who 
keep just as far from the edge of evil as you can, 
for you say, “ What is the use of being foolish? ” 
Sin and wrong and evil, in the Bible, are every¬ 
where called by their proper names of “ all sorts 
and kinds of foolishness.” Everyone of you ought 
to read the Book of Proverbs and get rid of the no¬ 
tion that evil is the mark of smartness; it is a 
mark of foolishness. 

Consider the third man who said that he would 
drive the car just as far from the edge of the cliff 
as he could. When you go out into the world, to 
seek employment, your employers will trust you 
and advance you according to the distance you put 
between yourselves and evil things. 


LXII 

THE JEWEL PEDLER 

“And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence contest 
thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, 
From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking 
uf and down in it .”— Job i : 7 . 

I T is a good story, which you ought to read, 
when you get home, that we find in the first 
chapter of the Book of Job. It is a story of 
how Satan presented himself before God and told 
what he was doing. 

Let us make, for ourselves, a parable, or alle¬ 
gory, of this account of what Satan was doing, 
“ Going to and fro in the earth.” 

Let us consider Satan as a “ Jewel Pedler.” He 
carries a pack and in this is a case fitted up with 
small drawers. In these drawers are the jewels 
kept in place by pads of specially designed pink 
silk stuffed with cotton batting. These jewels pre¬ 
sent a very fine appearance; they glitter beautifully 
in the light and they are very attractive; they make 
a strong appeal by their beauty. 

Now do not make a mistake for these are not 
real jewels; although if you ask the “Jewel Ped¬ 
ler ” he will tell you that they are the real genuine 
articles and he will go through all sorts of fake 

l 53 


154 


SEKMONS IN STORIES 


tests to prove their worth. Here is the catch that 
Satan is able to prove to some boys and girls that 
they are genuine jewels and they will give any¬ 
thing they have to get them. 

Here, for instance, is a beautiful diamond, 
greatly to be desired. The real name of this 
diamond, for all big diamonds have names, is 
“ They All Do It.” When boys and girls are 
doubtful about doing something that seems to them 
wrong, then, suddenly, there appears out of no¬ 
where Satan—“ The Jewel Pedler,” and offers 
them the pure white diamond (so he calls it) of 
“ They All Do It.” He says, “ Why hesitate in 
doing this what seems to you the wrong thing ? It 
is not really wrong, for everyone is doing it. I 
sell this kind of a diamond everywhere.” Satan 
asks a good round price, for sin is dear and costly. 
Sooner or later the fraud is discovered but “ The 
Jewel Pedler” has disappeared. 

There is the magnificent ruby, imitation of 
course, but offered as genuine. Its name is, “ No 
One Will See It.” Go ahead, do this evil thing 
you have in mind to do. “ No one will see it,” says 
Satan. 

There is a white pearl! How beautiful it looks 
to be! Imitation, of course. Its name is, “ No 
One Will Know It.” 

These are the false jewels Satan peddles up and 
down in the earth. He offers them everywhere. 
Many pay out good money for them, which has 


THE JEWEL PEDLER 


155 


been hard earned. The worst thing about these 
jewels is that no one is deceived, as to their value, 
except the owners and wearers and they too, sooner 
or later, find out how they have been tricked. 

Beware of Satan, ‘‘The False Jewel Pedler”; 
do not buy or trade anything for his imitation 
jewels of (don’t forget the names) “ They All Do 
It,” “ No One Will See It,” “ No One Will Know 
It.” 


LXIII 


THE MERRY GO ROUND 


“ Ask and it shall be given you” — Matthew 7 : 7 . 
N old coloured woman came, one day, to 



town with her small grandson. She came 


to do some trading at one of the stores. 


As she came out on the main road that led to town 
she got right into the midst of a carnival company 
which was going to give a show that day in this 
little town. Her grandson was very much excited 
over the strange things that he saw. He begged 
and teased to go right along with the carnival to 
the place where it was going to camp but his grand¬ 
mother said, “ No, not now.” But she did tell him 
that as soon as her trading was done—of which she 
had quite a little to do—that she would take him 
to see the show. 

About two o’clock they went out to the carnival 
grounds. The first thing the small boy saw was 
“ the merry go round” with its brilliant paint of 
red and gold and blue. He was very much excited 
over the music that was ground out of the organ. 
As he saw the prancing horses he wanted to ride 
one at once. He teased and teased for ten cents to 


*5 6 


THE MERRY GO ROUND 


157 


take a ride, but money did not come easily to his 
grandmother and she hesitated a long, long time 
before she gave in to the pleading. Finally, unable 
to resist any longer, she gave up the ten cents and 
the ride was on. 

Just as soon as “ the merry go round ” slowed up 
to stop the grandma snatched the small boy off his 
horse and she was heard to say, “ Now you have 
bin dun had yore ride and you bin roun’ and roun’ 
and roun’ but where you bin at, you bin at no¬ 
where, you ain’t got nowhere but roun’ and roun’ 
and roun’.” 

Boys and girls, do you see what I am trying to 
get at in this story ? If not, let me tell you. There 
are so many useless things that you want to do. 
Things that cost time and money and when they 
are over they get you nowhere. You wonder some¬ 
times why it is that this boy and that girl seem to 
go right on up ahead. They do not seem to do 
more than you do. They work no harder. There 
is this difference: they plan to make what they do 
count for something. They have an object in view. 
Read the story of great men and women and you 
will find that, when they were boys and girls, they 
were planning to do what they afterwards did. 
Have some definite object in view. Begin to plan 
now what you will be and do, after you grow up. 
You cannot begin too soon. 


LXIV 

THE BOY PRISONER 

“ The wages of sin .”— Romans 6: 23. 

I AM sometimes called upon to go up to our jail 
to see a prisoner who thinks a minister can 
help him in some way. Sometimes I can be of 
service and sometimes I cannot. 

The other day I was in our jail and as I got to 
the top of the iron stairway, leading to a certain 
department, my attention was called to a boy locked 
in one of the cells. He was sitting on the edge of 
his cot with bowed head. He was a boy something 
over twelve years of age, I thought. 

I spoke to him and he looked up. He had a very 
pleasant smile. I said, “ What are you in here 
for?” He replied very frankly and openly, “I 
have a paper route, a long one, with a good many 
families on it. Every so often I collect for the 
papers I deliver. Night before last I collected for 
my papers; it was quite a little sum of money, and 
just before I got home I lost the money. My fa¬ 
ther would not believe I lost the money and he had 
me locked up here.” “ My,” I said, “ that is too 
bad. You are telling me the truth ? ” He said, “ I 

158 


THE BOY PRISONER 


159 


am.” “ Well, if you are telling me the truth I can 
get you out of this place very easily,” I told him. 

Then I went down-stairs and repeated to the 
sheriff what the boy had said and that a father who 
would put his son in jail as this father had ought 
himself to be jailed. 

The sheriff looked up from his desk and said, 
“ I am very sorry to disabuse your mind of your 
opinion in regard to that lad up-stairs, but he is a 
liar and one of the very worst boys with whom I 
ever came in contact. He will steal everything 
he can lay his hands on and sell it to gamble with. 
He was sent to the State Reform School about a 
year ago after his parents had done everything they 
could to have him go straight. A number of good 
people have interested themselves in him and this 
is the sixth time we have had him back here after 
being paroled. He will be sent back to the State 
Reform School to-morrow.” 

“ The wages of sin is death.” Not always 
physical death but death of truth, death of mo¬ 
rality, death of goodness, death of all that makes 
any one worth while. There seemed to be nothing 
in this boy to which any good appeal could be made. 
It was the saddest case of a naturally bright lad 
gone wrong that I ever came across. 


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